Two Points For Honesty
by zoe roe
Summary: Bella has no choice but to move to Forks to live with her Uncle Charlie. While her past haunts her, she meets the people who may be able to set her free. Em/B. Ed/R. J/A
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing the characters belong to SM. No copyright infringement intended.**

"Ladies and Gentlemen the captain has turned on the fasten seat belt sign in preparation for landing. Please put up your tray tables, put your seats in the upright positions, and turn off all portable electronic devices. We will be landing in Port Angeles shortly."

I heard the flight attendant over the loud speaker through my headphones as I sat in the plane. I thought back to the events that got me on this aircraft in the first place. Moving to a town I had never been to before. Living with an uncle I never knew I had. How in hell did I get here?

_"Has the jury reached a verdict?" The judge asked the head juror who stood and walked towards the microphone._

_"We have you honor." He spoke. I felt chills run up my spine. This is it. The day I had been waiting for._

_"We the jury find the defendant guilty on all counts." The head juror said into the microphone before he turned and sat in his seat. Everyone in court including myself turned to the judge to await his sentencing._

_"Given the nature of this crime, I herby sentence the defendant to 50 years in prison."_

_"Your honor I beg you to reconsider. A crime of this magnitude in Arizona normally warrants the death penalty." The prosecutor protested._

_"My ruling is final, consoler." The judge said as he slammed his gavel on the sound block signifying that the trail was over._

"Miss." I heard the flight attend say as she broke me out of my day dream. I turned towards her, but said nothing.

"We are about the land. Could you please turn off your electronic device?" She signaled to my mp3 player. I pulled the plugs out of my ears and hit pause.

"Thank you. We will be landing shortly." She before she turned to walk down the aisle.

When we had landed, everyone in the cabin immediately stood, grabbed their baggage from the overhead compartments, and quickly filed out. But I sat, waiting for the crowd to thin out. I didn't have the energy to be pushed and pulled around in haste to exit the aircraft. I am in no hurry to start my life here.

Once the plane was empty, I placed my backpack on my back, pushed my long brown hair behind my ears, and trekked down the aisle up the jet way. The airport was small. But everything here was going to be small compared to Arizona.

I rounded the corner to baggage claim and saw a sign with my name on it. The man holding the sign was maybe six feet tall, with dark hair and eyes, and a full mustache. He was in a police uniform, and he stood looking down at his shuffling feet. When I walk up to him, he lifted his eyes to mine. It was here I saw the resemblance. He had the same warm eyes as my mother.

"Isabella." He said to me in an unsure tone.

"Just Bella." I replied.

"Well, I am your Uncle Charlie." He reached out his hand to shake mine. I looked down at it, hesitant to take it. I know it is polite, but to be honest, I just didn't want to. But considering I was going to be staying at his house for the foreseeable future, I guess I should. As I began to raise my hand, he lowered his and put it into his pocket. I guess I was staring at it to long.

"I am happy to have you." He said as if he had a choice. "Do you have more stuff than that? Your boxes have already arrived at the house." He asked motioning to my backpack. I shook my head.

"I shipped all of my stuff."

"Ok then lets get on the road. We have a short little ride until we get to Forks." I nodded and followed him out of the terminal. Outside it was drizzling and grey. We walked into a small parking lot, which I assume is for short term parking, towards a police cruiser. He drove his police cruiser to pick me up isn't that illegal, I thought. He walked around the passengers side and opened the door for me. I took a deep breath and walked towards him. I place my backpack on the floor and sat in the passengers seat. He closed my door quickly and went to the drivers side. Once he had paid for parking, we were on our way.

"So.." He said obviously trying to start a conversation. "I was thinking we could order a pizza for dinner tonight. What do you think?" He looked over to me awaiting my answer.

"That sounds fine." I replied looking ahead. I really wasn't in the mood to talk.

"What do you like on your pizza?"

"I am not a picky eater, so it doesn't really matter." I heard Charlie take a deep breath. I guess I wasn't really cooperating. We drove in silence for the next forty minutes. I looked out my window taking in my surroundings. All I saw was green. Green trees, green moss, and green grass. I huge contrast between the dessert that is Arizona.

"I know it is soon, but I signed you up for school. You start tomorrow." Charlie said. "I didn't want you to get behind."

"That's fine." I said. I noticed Charlie take another deep breath and shake his head. I felt bad that I was being difficult, but I really didn't want to talk. "It will be nice to go back to some normalcy again." I added trying to ease the tension.

This cannot be easy for him. For the past twenty years he had been alone. Ever since his younger sister, my mother, ran away. I know she never really kept contact with him. She wanted nothing to do with the small town she grew up in. Now he is stuck raising a niece he never knew he had. Life Sucks.

"I am sure it is smaller than your school in Phoenix, but you may like it." He replied quickly.

"Maybe."

The rest of the ride was silent. The only thing that could be heard was the light rain pattering on the roof. I knew we where close when I saw a sign that said 'Welcome to Forks.' The town was small, with only little mom and pop shops. Charlie pulled into the driveway of a rather small house and turned the car off. I opened my door and looked around. The house was at the end of a street surrounded by woods on two sides, including the back. All the houses in the neighborhood were similar. Two story, small, and with what looked like large back yards.

I followed Charlie to the front door, only to hear barking behind it.

"Your not afraid of dogs are you?" He asked before turning the key that was already in the door. I shook my head no. I was not a huge fan, but I was not afraid.

"Good." He said as he opened the door. I met with an averaged sized German Shepherd. "This is Kaiser." He said point motioning to the dog. "Don't worry he is nice, and he won't bother you if you don't want him to."

I nodded showing that I heard him.

"Let me take you up to your room." I followed him up the stairs that lead off the foyer, if you could call it that it was more like an entry hallway. The upper landing had four doors.

"That room at the far end of the hall is mine." He said pointing to the door furthest away. "This one to your left is the bathroom. The small one next to it is the linen closet."

"Is that the only bathroom?" I asked interrupting him.

"On this floor. There is a smaller one downstairs, but it doesn't have a bath or shower." I nodded.

"This here is your room." He said as he opened the door to the closest to the stairs. He allowed me to walk in first. It was small. The walls where painted purple. There was a small white desk in the fair right corner. The bed was a small twin, and the closet was non existent. The only good thing was that it let in a lot of natural light, given that there where three windows, but that will only happen if the sun comes out. Which may never happen.

"I know it is smaller than what you are used to." Charlie said as I walked around the room.

"It is fine." I quickly said trying to assure him. I was in no place to be choosey. This was the only place I could go. "I like it." Or I will grow to like it, I thought.

"Good." He responded with a slight smile. "Well, I will let you get settled, and the order pizza." He turned a left.

I looked around the room that was now mine and took a deep breath. Puting my backpack on the desk chair, I took out my laptop. I would have to remember to ask about internet. I sat on bed and looked out the window. I watched the leaves on the tree right outside my window shook as drops hit them. I don't know how long I sat there, but it had to have been awhile, because there was a knock on the door.

"Yes." I said. Charlie open the door and stuck his head in.

"I said the pizza arrived. Did you not hear me?"

"No, sorry." I said as I got up and followed him down stairs. Once I was down stairs I looked around for the first time. I saw a formal dinning room to my left. I walked forward into the living room which was equipped with the a couch, a lazy boy, and a TV. I followed Charlie in to the small kitchen it was attached to.

"I got cheese. I know you said you were not a picky eater, but I wanted to be safe." He said as he raised the lid to the box that was on the kitchen table.

"That's fine." I said as Charlie handed me a paper plate. I took a small piece and sat down.

"So I have to go to work early tomorrow morning." He said. "Which means you will be on your own in the morning. There is a red pick up truck in the driveway, which you can use to drive to school." I nodded.

"Where is the school exactly?" I asked.

"I will write directions down for you, but it is not hard to get to."

We ate in silence for the next couple of minutes.

"So is their anything thing you want to get involved in while you are here?" He asked.

"What?" I wasn't really sure what he was referring to.

"I know you used to do ballet at in Arizona. Did you want to continue that here?"

"No." I responded stoically. I wanted nothing to do with my life in Arizona. That was over now. I will never be that girl again. "May I be excused?" I asked. Charlie looked down at my barely eaten pizza.

"Yea." He said after a deep breath. I saw his shoulders slump as I walked to throw the rest of my food away. I know he was trying, but I couldn't. Before I left him in the kitchen, I turned towards him.

"Thank you for the pizza." I said. He looked up at me.

"No problem." I nodded and walked upstairs.

After I had changed and brushed my teeth, I went back into my room, turned off the lights, got under the covers and cried. This was sure to be another sleepless night for me.

**Well there is the first chapter. Be sure to let me know what you think. The next chapter is mostly written, so I will be able to give you a preview!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for all the Favorites, Alerts, and Reviews. It really means a lot to me. I will try to update this every couple of day. Keep letting me know what you think and I will send you sneak peaks of the next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters belong to SM. No copyright infringement intended.**

I woke up panting and covered in sweat. No doubt due to a nightmare, but I will take whatever I can get. I have not slept for the past 3 days, so any sleep is better than none. I looked over at the clock, 6:30 in the morning. I am going to have to get up soon, I thought. As if Charlie could read my mind, there was a knock on my bedroom door.

"Bella." I heard Charlie say quietly.

"Yea." I said. My voice sounded raspy and worn out. I cleared my throat and tried again. "Yes."

"I just wanted to make sure you were up. I am about to leave and school starts at eight."

"Okay, I am up." I slowly swung my legs over the bed and placed them on the floor.

"Good. I put the keys for the truck on the table by the door along with the directions. Have a good first day." As soon as the words left his mouth I scoffed. No one ever has a good first day of school. It is always filled with stares and awkward conversations. But I couldn't be rude to Charlie, he was trying his best.

"Thank you." I said as I stood up and stretched. I heard his footsteps trail away from the door and down the stairs. The front door slam and the cruiser's engine start. I gathered shampoo, conditioner, and soap, grabbed a towel from the linen closet, and headed off to the shower.

The bathroom was small, but Charlie had left me a cabinet underneath the sink to put my supplies in. I turned on the water and stepped in. The water pressure was not great, but it would have to do. The temperature either went from lukewarm to a fiery inferno. Once my hair was washed and I was clean, I stepped out and looked in the mirror. My long hair was dripping down my back as I wrapped the towel around myself. I thought about blowdrying it, so that it would not have as much body. I thought about putting on a little make up to look more presentable. I even thought about dressing up, but who am I kidding. I had no one to impress. I just need to graduate. Then I can use my college fund to go to any school I want. I just need to finish. That is all I am here for.

I walked back into my room, and grabbed a pair of skinny jeans, white tee, and a black blazer from one of my boxes. I looked out the window and saw no rain, so I figured I would be okay without a hood. I put on a pair of black flats and went downstairs. Kaiser was laying at the foot of the stairs and proceeded to follow me into the kitchen.

I looked in to the fridge and cabinets for anything to make for breakfast, but only found some questionable milk, frozen fish, moldy bread, and dry cereal. No wonder Charlie ordered pizza last night, there is nothing here. I grabbed a hand full of cereal, and shoved it into my mouth, only to see Kaiser right under me searching the floor for any fallen food.

"Stupid mutt." I said as I stepped over him. I walked into the living room, I turned on the TV, and sat on the couch. Flipping through channels I finally found the news. The latest breaking story was about at record size fish caught by a local fisherman. God this place is so small that that is headline news.

I turned off the TV and looked at the clock. I had thirty minutes till school started, I might as well go early. Knowing me I will get lost anyway and get there on time. I went upstairs grabbed my backpack, shoved an old notebook inside, and ran out the door grabbing the keys and directions on my way out.

I walked out to the old pick up truck parked in the driveway. I couldn't decided if it was red or if it was just cover in rust, but either way as long as it ran that was good enough for me. When I tuned it on, the engine literally roared to life. I think the whole neighborhood heard. Thats slightly embarrassing.

Getting to the school was easier than I thought. I pulled into the parking lot, and stepped out. As I walked to the main entrance of the school, I looked around the parking lot. The student were convening around their cars, which luckily for me were about the same age as mine. I walked into the office building, and up to the main desk.

"Excuse me." I said to the elderly lady sitting at the receptionist desk. "My name is Bella Swan, I am new here."

"Oh yes, the Chief's niece, Isabella Swan." She said with a smile on her face.

"Just Bella." I corrected.

"My name is Mrs. Cope. It is so exciting to have new students. It almost never happens. Here is you schedule dear. Also here is a map of the school. It can get a little confusing sometimes. And this is your locker number and combination. All of your school books are already in there. Have a great first day." She said handing me a folder.

"Thank you." I said as I grabbed the folder from her hand and walked out of the office. As I was walking, I looked over my schedule and saw that I had English first. I looked at the map, and followed the directions to the Language Arts building. Once I had found the room, I walk in and introduce myself to the teacher.

"Hello, my name is Bella, I am new here." I said to the middle age lady behind the desk at the front of the room.

"Oh yes, I heard we were getting a new student. Chief Swan's niece, right?" I nodded my head. "Well welcome to English III. I am Mrs. Kelly. Let me know if you have any questions. You chose a good day to start, we are beginning a new book today. You may sit over there." She pointed to a desk at the far right of the room.

"Thank you." I said as I turned as walked towards my assigned seat. I sat down quietly and pulled out a notebook. A bell rang, telling me that class was about to start, and immediately students began to pile in. I pulled my hair for out from behind my ears and tilted my head down so that it would create a barrier between me and the rest of the class.

Once the next bell had sounded Mrs. Kelly stood.

"Good Morning, today we have a new student, Isabella Swan."

"It's Bella." I announced as every eye in the room turned back to me. I could feel the blush creep up to my cheeks.

"Right, well make Bella feel welcome." She said with a smile on her face. "As you know we are starting a new book today. It is called Crime and Punishment."

I tuned out everything she said after that. English used to be my favorite subject, but knowing what that book entails this is going to be a long semester.

Once English, was over I glanced at my schedule to see what I had next and where it was located before I left. I didn't want to be roaming around the school staring at the map.

"Isabella." I heard a voice say to me. I looked up to see and average girl with light brown hair staring back at me.

"It's just Bella" I responded.

"Well I am Jessica. What class do you have next?"

"Pre Calc."

"Oh I have that too, I will walk you."

"Thank you." I said as I stood and followed her. While we walked to class, Jessica continued to ask questions.

"Where did you move from?"

"Arizona."

"Oh that's cool. I bet it is warm there."

"It is the desert." I said dryly. She was only one question in and I was already annoyed.

"Do you play any sports?"

"Nope."

"Well I am a cheerleader. Maybe you can join the squad. Since it is spring we are only practicing our cheers until football season starts next year." She said getting really excited. I hate to squash her dreams, but there was no way I would become a cheerleader.

"I think I will pass."

"Oh well there is always next year." She said as we walked into the classroom.

The rest of my classes went off without a hitch. I had almost all of them with Jessica. She proceeded to introduce me to her friends. Lauren, was a bitch. I could tell by her dyed blond hair and the snooty way the addressed not only me, but everyone else. Tyler and Eric were nice, nothing memorable but nothing awful. Mike, made me feel as if I was a piece of meat. And Angela was quiet. They had asked me to eat lunch at their table. Lauren made sure to comment that it is where all the cool kids eat. The smart ass remark of obviously not was at the tip of my tongue, but I held back. I am not here to be the queen bee or the most hated girl in school. I am here it graduate and get out.

That is what I kept telling myself as I followed Tyler into the cafeteria. Everyone stared as we sat at a table in the middle of the room after paying for our shitty food. I placed my tray in front of my seat and sat down next to Angela and Jessica. Everyone at the table was talking about the a specific teacher that they all hated.

"What does he teach?" I asked.

"Mr. Boyle teaches Biology." Angela answered quietly. Shit that is my next class. I turned to tell her thank you because she was the only one who actually acknowledged my question, but as I did I looked over her shoulder and noticed five beautiful people enter. I couldn't seem to take my eyes off of them as they walked by and took their seats the corner of the room.

"Those are the Cullen's" Jessica said to me.

"What?" I asked.

"Those are Dr. Cullen's kids. They just moved here a year ago. They are all adopted and dating each other." I nodded my head acknowledging her but I couldn't take my eyes off of them.

"The blond guy is Jasper Hale, and he is with the little short girl Alice Cullen." I looked over them. Jasper was tall with shaggy blond hair and a pained expression on his face. His girlfriends Alice was obviously short, but it was unclear how short due tot he fact she was sitting. She had short black hair and a huge smile on her face.

"The blond girl is Jasper's sister, Rosalie, and she is with Edward Cullen. The one with the reddish hair." Rosalie was gorgeous. She had long flowing blond hair and carried her self in a way that said she knew she was the shit. Edward looked just as snobbish as her, with his reddish sex hair and bored look on his face. As I scanned the table, I found a pair of eyes looking back at me. They were a peculiar goldish color and his skin was completely white. As a matter or fact all their skin was completely white. My eyes left his, as I looked over his body. He was huge.

"The one in the middle is Emmett. He is not with anyone, but don't get your hopes up. He doesn't date." As Jessica said this a slight smile appeared on his face, giving me a glimpse of a dimple on each side of his mouth. Feeling overwhelmed by the sight of him, I turned back to Jessica.

"I am not interested in dating him." I said looking at her.

"Don't lie. Everyone is interested in dating him." Lauren said across the table.

"So were you serious about not wanting to date Cullen?" Mike asked as he walked with me to Biology.

"Yea. Why?"

"Lauren is right. Every girl here wants him." He looked down at the floor as he said this. Giving me the feeling that he has been shoot down by many girls waiting for Emmett Cullen to change his mind.

We walked into the biology lab and I went up to go talk to Mr. Boyle.

"You must be Isabella Swan." He said to me before I had a chance to introduce myself.

"It's Bella." I corrected.

"Right. Well take a seat at the third desk on the right. You partner should be here soon."

I walked over to the desk, placed my bag on the floor, and sat on the stool.

"Looks like your Cullen's partner." Mike said from the desk behind me with Lauren sitting beside him. Please don't let it be the blond girl, I thought.

Before I had a chance to ask which one, the bell rang and Mr. Boyle stood. As this happened Emmett Cullen walked in.

"Have a seat Mr. Cullen." Mr. Boyle said as he walked to the projector.

"Sorry sir. I was helping my sister." Emmett responded. As soon as I heard his voice I felt my insides melt. It was so smooth but rough at the same time. It had the tone of a bass. He came and sat down next to me. I could feel his eyes staring me down, as Mr. Boyle began to teach about God knows what. I brought my hand up to my hair and pulled my hair down around my face, blocking it from his view. I think I heard him chuckle as I did this. At hearing that sound, I couldn't help but look back at him to see what was so funny.

Once again I was met with his golden eyes staring back at mine. They were so welcoming as if they were begging me to talk to him. This is not good.

"You must be Isabella. I'm Emmett." He said to me quietly with a smile on his face causing me to look down at his dimples. I resisted the urge to put my fingers in them. He was looking at me expectantly waiting for my response.

"Huh" I said. Not exactly what I wanted to say. "I mean it's just Bella." He laughed quietly before he responded.

"Okay, Bella it is." Before I could embarrass myself any further, I turned back to the front of the room.

The rest of class, Emmett continued to stare at me, and I continued to pretend like he didn't exist. Once class was over I quickly gathered my things and almost sprinted out of the room. I could afford to get attached to anyone here. I just need to graduate.

I walked to my next class, history, only to see Alice Cullen and Jasper Hale walk in. They gave me a kind smile, as they took there seats before the teacher began his lecture. After class I saw, Alice walking towards my chair.

"Hello, Bella. I am Alice and this is Jasper." She said in a chipper voice as Jasper nodded.

"Nice to meet you." I said quickly looking down at my desk.

"You wanna walk to gym together?" She asked excitedly.

"How did you know I had gym?" I was sure I never said a thing about it.

"Uh lucky guess." She just shrugged. I got up, followed them outside and into the gym. Once inside I saw several students in what seems to be gym uniforms.

"Are we supposed to be wearing uniforms?" I asked Alice.

"Yea, Lets go talk to Coach Klein and he will give you one." She said walking off toward a man in windbreakers with a whistle around his neck.

"Coach, This is Bella. She is new and she needs a uniform." Alice said.

"Oh yea the Chiefs niece Isabella." He responded looking me over.

"It's Bella." Alice said before I even had a chance to correct him. I may like Alice more than I thought.

"Ok well, Bella. There are uniforms in the cabinet by the entrance to the locker rooms. Get a pair, go change, and meet us out here."

I nodded my head as Alice grabbed my hand in an iron grip, and led me towards the uniforms. It was then that I noticed the temperature difference between the two of us. Her hands were ice cold. But considering we had just come from outside, I guess it is understandable. Maybe she had poor circulation.

Once I was changed, I walked out the lockerroom to see that Coach had every one sitting on the bleachers. Alice began walking towards Jasper, who was talking to Emmett. Given the how awkward and uncomfortable Biology was, I scanned the bleachers to see if there was anyone else that I knew. On the other side of the room, I saw Mike and Lauren.

"Um thanks for your help Alice." I said as I turned to sit with Mike, hoping she would not ask me to sit with her family.

"No problem." She said as she walked in the other direction. Once I sat down Mike smiled at me but Lauren glared.

"Alright today we are going to play a game of whiffle ball inside, because like always it is raining." Coach said. "So Lauren and Tina you are captains today. Pick teams."

Shit. I am going to be picked last, I thought. After the flip of a coin, Lauren had first choice, and she glared right at me as she said "Emmett." He stood and walked over to her side. Tina choose her first team member, and they alternated. After Lauren had picked Mike, I could see him trying to tell her to pick me, but she just ignored him. I looked down at my feet and felt the water began to pool in my eyes. Never in my life had I had someone been blatantly rude to me when I had done nothing to them. Like I had expected, I was last and put on Tina's team by default. I looked at my teammates, and realized that I knew no one. Coach blew the whistle and the game began.

After a couple of innings, I looked at the clock and saw that there were only five more minutes left of class, and by some miracle I had managed to not bat or be of any importance when my team was in the field. I wasn't bad at sports, I actually played quite a few in Phoenix. My mom thought it would help with my coordination, but I still hate gym. My team was currently batting and I was at the end of the line up, but apparently my luck had run out.

"Coach, Bella hasn't bat yet." Lauren yelled as the next batter walked up to the plate. I felt my cheeks blush as Lauren turned to look at me with a smug look. I wanted to smack it off of her face.

"Is that true?" He asked me.

"Well, I don't really fell like I would help my team, so I am sitting this one out." I said hoping he would accept my lame excuse. As the words left my mouth, I heard a loud chuckle across the room. I looked in the direction so see who it came from, only to see Emmett looking at me with a smile on his face which brought his dimples out in full force. It was then that I noticed the stark difference between him and the other students. He stood almost a head taller than everyone else here, and was easily the strongest guy in the room. If we had strong man competitions in gym, he would slaughter everyone. I brought my eyes up to his and I got lost in the depth of them. The gold color was once again inviting me over to him and not just physically. I felt this pull towards him that made me want to tell him everything and give him anything.

"Everyone must participate Ms. Swan." Coach said to me breaking me out of my trance. I looked back at him from my spot on the bench. "You're up next." He handed me the bat. I took at deep breath, stood and grabbed it from him.

Once the next batter had made it on base, it was my turn. I walked up to the plate, and thought about just not swinging and striking out, but quitting was not in my vocabulary. Maybe I will get lucky and hit Lauren in the face. I waited for a good pitch and swung. Once the bat made contact I dropped it and ran for first base. The other team was still working on getting the ball into the infield so I decided to run for second. It was then that I slipped on a wet spot on the floor, my legs began to slip out from under me, and I prepared to land on my ass in front of the entire class.

But before I hit the ground, I felt an arm wrap around my waist. I turned to look to see who my savior was only to be met by the same gold eyes I had been staring into not one minute earlier.

"Careful." Emmett said helping me up.

"Thanks." I said as I looked down at my feet feeling the blood creep up to my cheeks.

"We can't have you getting hurt my can we?" He said with a smile in his voice.

I looked up at him in confusion, but quickly averted my eyes back down to my feet. Coach blew his whistle and I jumped.

"That's enough for today." He said. I quickly turned to go to looker room not giving Emmett a second glance. I grabbed my clothes, threw them into my backpack, and ran out to my car.

"Bella!" I heard someone yell behind me. I turned around to see Lauren coming towards me. Shit! She walked straight up to me and stared into my eyes.

"Stay away from Emmett. He's mine."

"Trust me, you can have him." I said as turned away from her and went to my car. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I sped the entire way back home. As I walked into the house, Kaiser met me at the door, and I realized I was alone. I was all alone.

_"So what was your first day of high school like?" My mother said as we sat at the kitchen munching on popcorn. I had just come home from my first day of freshman year._

_"It was okay." I said as I shoved some popcorn into my mouth._

_"Make any new friends? Make any enemies? Meet any cute boys?" She got more excited with every question she asked. I could fell my tell tale blush. "I know that blush. Spill."_

_"Well there was this one boy. But I don't know if he likes me back." I said shrugging._

_"He would be stupid not to like you back."_

_"Mom, he is a sophomore. I am a freshman. He is not going to waste his time on me. Anyways he just got out of a relationship with a cheerleader." I emphsized the word cheerleader so she would get what I was trying to say. Cheerleaders are at the top of the high school totem pole. Freshman are at the bottom._

_"First of all he would not be wasting his time on you, he would be finding a better use for it. Secondly, don't worry about jealous girls. You will encounter them for the rest of you life. The best method I have found for dealing with them is to ignore them. They thrive on intimidating you. If you don't let them, you will see them for what hey really are. Fake and Dumb. You do what you want to do and don't let anyone get in your way." I laughed. "Come on let make some dinner for your father before he comes home."_

The tears began to run down my cheeks as I relived my first day of high school. In a little over two years everything had changed. I used to come home to my mother everyday. We would gossip about various high school drama and laugh at all the stupid girls. Now I come home to an empty house with a dog. I have no one to confide in, and I fell like I have no one on my side. I was alone in every sense of the word.

I ran up to my room, shut the door, flung myself onto the bed, and cried. After a while I heard Charlie come up to check on me but I just told him I wasn't hungry. For the second night in a row, I cried myself to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. the characters belong to SM. No copyright infringement intended.**

(Empov)

The day had started like any other. I sat through all of my boring high school classes for the hundredth time. The only thing that was semi interesting today was that there was a new student, Isabella Swan. Not wanting to pay attention to the non sense that the teacher was spewing, I listened to conversations about the new girl.

"Well is she hot?" I heard.

"Yea, but she's quiet."

"I don't think she is that pretty." That nasally voice was unmistakeable, Lauren. That bitch had been trying to get into my pants since we moved here. If only she new what she was asking for. Better yet I should just give it to her, and then kill her when I am finished. That could be fun. It would make my life a lot easier. And it stops her from trying to jump on my cock every time she sees me. It's a win win situation, for me anyway.

"Emmett!" Edward said to low for human ears.

"What?" I asked back.

"Quit thinking about killing Lauren."

"Can you blame me?" He just shrugged and continued to pretend to listen to the teacher.

By the time lunch came around, I was bored out of my mind. Edward and I walked at a human pace towards the cafeteria meeting our family along the way. Both Jasper and Rose had the same bored look we did, but Alice was a more excited then ever.

"What's gotten into you kiddo?" I asked. She glared at me hating the childish nicknames I always use for her, but she is just so small I can't help it.

"Today is going to be a very big day for you." She clapped her hands as she looked me over. "Damn it Emmett. Did you really have to where your old leather jacket today? You look like you belong on Happy Days." She yelled.

"Why are you on my case?"

"Let's just go inside." Jasper said grabbing Alice's hand and walking towards the cafeteria. Rosalie and Edward followed. I took an unnecessary breath and followed behind them. Once we where inside, I was assaulted with the usual smells of blood, grease and processed food, but there was something different today. A new scent that began to over come the rest. It was a mixture of strawberries and vanilla. The most beautiful thing I have ever smelled. As I walked towards our table in the corner, I began searching for the source. As I got further into the room, it became obvious that the sent was someone's blood. But that wasn't what surprised me. I felt no blood lust nor burning the back of my throat, only a need to find it. As we sat at our table, I scanned the room. I was broken out of my search by the sound of my name.

"Those are the Cullen's" I heard Jessica Stanley say. I rolled my eyes. She is almost as bad as Lauren. My first few days living here those two where relentless. It was then I heard an unfamiliar voice answer her.

"What?" As soon as I heard it, I felt as if my whole world shifted. My eyes immediately went to Jessica to find who exactly she was talking to. They where met with the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. Her long mahogany hair draped over her shoulders and ran down her back. As she turned to get a good look at us, I saw the most peculiar eyes. They were definitely hazel with hints of brown and green, but there where also touches of blue in each iris, allowing her eyes to change color based on the direction you are looking into them. I heard Jessica begin to introduce the members of my family to her. I watched her eyes shift to each member of my family until they met mine.

"The one in the middle is Emmett. He is not with anyone, but don't get your hopes up. He doesn't date." Jessica said. I couldn't help but smile at her comment. If only she knew. As I looked into the eyes staring back at me, I felt as if she was looking into my soul. Into my very being. The urge to protect overwhelmed me. Looking at the company she was with, I just wanted to pick her up and take her away. Lauren glared at her with hate and disgust. Jessica seem unsure what to think but knowing how she followed Lauren's every wish, it's not long until she hates her too. Mike and Eric looked at her as if they were ready to devour her. The only people who I would have deem ok, where Angela and Tyler, and that was because they were into each other.

"I am not interested in dating him." I heard her say as she turned away from me. Well it looks like I have my work cut out for me.

"You can't be serious." Edward said breaking my trance as he stared me down across the table.

"What?" Rosalie asked.

"Emmett is thinking about dating a human."

"Thats the dumbest idea I have ever heard." She replied with a scoff as the bell rang and students emptied the cafeteria. I looked around to get a final view of the girl that forever had changed my world. As I saw her walk out with Mike, I repressed the urge to growl. I turned back towards my family willing this conversation to end so that I may follow her.

"I think it is a wonderful idea." Alice said smiling at me with her all knowing eyes.

"You cannot be encouraging this." Edward yelled at her.

"Hey! There is no reason to yell." Jasper said towards Edward protecting his wife. It was then that we heard Alice gasp. We all looked at her, but she had that vacant look in her eye telling us she was having a vision. Edward growled obviously reading her mind, as Alice came back too.

"This is ridiculous." Edward said as he stood up and left the room with Rosalie following him. Alice looked at me with a smile on her face.

"She is going to have a class with each of us." As Alice said this, I couldn't hide my excitement as a smile broke out on my face. "She is going to have gym with all of us, history with Jasper and I, and she is going to be your bio lab partner, so be nice. No bad jokes, and no inappropriate comments. Got it?"

"Well your no fun." I said back to her with a smile.

"Hurry or you will be late." She said shooing me away with her hands. I walked as fast as humanly possible towards the science building, but not fast enough. As I approached the door, I heard Mike mention that she was partners with me. I smiled at the thought as I entered the room.

"Have a seat Mr. Cullen." I heard Mr. Boyle say to me as I searched the room for Isabella.

"Sorry sir. I was helping my sister." I said as my eyes found her for the third time today. I walked towards the lab table and sat down next to her. I watched as she brought her hair around her face to shield her from my sight. If only she knew that with my eyes I could still see her. I inhaled in her scent as her hair wafted it towards my nostrils. I listened to her heart beat, memorizing its rhythm and sound.

"Great now Cullen is after her too." I heard Mike mumble under his breath. I couldn't help but chuckle at him thinking he actually had a shot in hell against me. Isabella immediately looked back at me. I took this as my chance to introduce myself.

"You must be Isabella. I'm Emmett." I said quietly trying not to alert Mr. Boyle of our side conversation. I may have to kill him, if he yells at her.

"Huh" I felt the smile grow on my face looking at the dumbstruck look on hers. She was just so cute. "I mean it's just Bella." I laughed at her quick recovery.

"Ok. Bella it is." I said to her, before she turned away from me. I spent the rest of class memorizing everything I could about her. The tenor of her voice. The curves of her body. The color of her hair. Everything.

When the bell sounded, Bella almost ran out of class. I couldn't help but smile at how amazing she is. I spent the next class keeping track of her by listening to her heartbeat. I know she had class with both Alice and Jasper, but I couldn't seem to get her off of my mind. I had to know where she was at all times. Her safety quickly became my main priority.

When I walked into gym, Jasper met me at the door.

"Alice seems to have found a new friend." He said. I quickly scanned the room looking for her. I couldn't see her, but I heard her heartbeat.

"Where is she?" I asked looking around the room frantically for a second time hoping I missed her.

"Woah. Calm down buddy." Jasper said as I felt a wave of calm hit me. "She is changing with Alice." Relief washed over me knowing she was safe.

When Coach blew his whistle, I followed Jasper over to the bleachers.

"You really like her." He stated. I knew he knew how I felt about her given his talent.

"She is all I can think about. I couldn't forget about her even if I tried." I responded.

"I get man. I fell the same about Alice." Then her heavenly smell assaulted my nose. I looked around the gym, and found Bella waking towards the bleachers with Alice.

"Thanks for you help Alice." She said as she walked over to towards Mike and Lauren.

"Looks like you may have some competition Em." Jasper said to me as I watched her sit down. "Mike has so much lust going through his body he may jump her at any second, and Lauren is so angry she may strangle her." A low growled left me at the thought of either of them touching her.

I was about to go over there, when Coach called the class to order, and picked captains for a game of whiffle ball. I groaned when Lauren pick me first. I walked over to her side and crossed my arms over my chest. Lauren's next pick was Mike, and as he walked up I heard him tell Lauren to pick Bella next. I heard Bella's heart accelerate and immediately turned to look at her. She was looking down at her feet. Jasper was at soon at my side, which meant he was Lauren's next pick.

"She feels abandoned." Jasper whispered to me. "And Lauren is vengeful. I guess she is doing this to prove a point."

"What point is that?" I asked with a growl in my voice.

"That you belong to her." Alice said walking up to us. I looked at her with a questioning glance. "Hence the reason she pick you first and stared Bella down as she did it."

This girl is asking me to hurt her. Bella was the last pick, and she was put on the other team. The game went slowly. When it was my turn to bat I barely swung, and it was still a home run. Throughout the game, I noticed Bella avoid any contact with the ball. She avoided batting and when in the field she went to the farthest corner. It was obivous she wanted nothing to do with this game. So when Lauren called her out on it, and I to hold myself back from going over there and ripping her mouth off of her face. I felt waves of calm hit me. No doubt from Jasper trying to control my anger.

"Is that true?" I heard Coach ask.

"Well, I don't really fell like I would help my team, so I am sitting this one out." She said. I couldn't help but laugh at her smart ass remark. The more I learn about her the more I love. Her eyes met mine again across the room and I was lost in their depth.

Coach made Bella bat next. When it was her turn, she hit a hard ball out of the infield, and ran for first base. As she turned to run for second, I heard Alice.

"Emmett she is going to fall." I moved faster than I probably should have as I watched her feet fly out from under her. I quickly wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her upright. I took at deep breath inhaling her delicious scent, before she turned to face me.

"Careful." I said looking into her eyes. She looked down at her feet mumbling her thanks.

"Can't have you getting hurt now can we?" I said quietly right before Coach blew his whistle ending class. As soon as she realized she was free, she turned and headed towards the locker room.

I took my time in the locker room, relishing Bella's scent on me. As I walked out to the parking lot, Jasper and Alice where standing by my car and the Edward's volvo was gone.

"Lauren just threatened Bella." Jasper said as I put my bag in my Jeep.

"What!" I yelled.

"She told her to stay away from you." Alice said getting in the backseat of the Jeep. Jasper climbed in the front.

"This girl is just begging me to kill her." I said as got in the car and started it.

"Let's not worry about that right now. Edward and Rosalie are already at home telling Carlisle and Esme about Bella."

The drive home was silent. We were all bracing our selves for the fight that was sure to come. As we pulled into the drive way I saw not only the volvo, but the Mercedes meaning that Carlisle was indeed home. As we walked through the front door Esme,Carlisle, Rosalie, and Edward where all waiting for us. Edward and Rosalie looked pissed. Esme looked happy. Carlisle looked indifferent.

"How was school?" Esme asked trying to ease the tension in the room. She hated it when we fought.

"It was fine, but that is not what we are her to talk about." I said stone faced prepared for the battle that was about to happen.

"Your right, why don't you tell us about this girl." Esme replied.

"Her name is Isabella Swan." I said.

"The Chiefs niece?" Carlisle asked.

"Yea." I nodded.

"Edwards said that you are thinking about pursuing her."

"I was. I am."

"Do you think you can handle it?" He asked me.

"You can't be considering this." Rosalie yelled. "This is unsafe."

"Why don't you mind your own business." I yelled back my temper beginning to get the best of me.

"This is my business. This is all of our business. You are not only putting her in jeopardy but all of us. What is going to happen when she finds out what we are?"

"I trust her." I said and Edward growled.

"You don't even know her. You are infatuated with the thought of her." He said.

"Well, I trust her too." At least Alice as my back.

"Have you seen anything?" Esme asked her.

"Yes, I have. I see her making Emmett happy. I see the rest of us happy. I don't think she would tell."

"You don't think she will tell?" Rosalie yelled mockingly. "We are vampires. Things she has only seen in her worst nightmares. Of course she will tell. She will run away screaming to the first person she sees." I could help but think Rosalie may be right. We are things she has only read about. We are unconquerable beasts. But the thought of not having Bella in my life made me not want to live. Having her run away was a risk I was willing to take. At least I would know she wouldn't want me.

"She will not tell." Alice yelled.

"Fine maybe she won't tell." Rosalie said. "Because Emmett will kill her first."

"What the fuck did you just say?" I whispered knowing everyone could hear me.

"You know I am right. One small flick of the wrist and you could break her neck. Not to mention if your hungry enough to have a little snack."

"You have no idea what you are talking about." I hissed as anger began to rise within me. The thought of anyone hurting Bella, even myself, made me want to tear them limb from limb.

"Jasper tell him. Tell him that he will kill her." Rosalie said knowing Jasper would agree. Out of all of us, he has the least control having lived off of human blood for so long. He looked back and forth between Alice and Rosalie, torn between his wife and his sister. "We have to leave." Rosalie said. "It is the only option. The only way for her to have a normal life."

"Give her a chance." Alice said. "Your are always assuming the worst in people, Rosalie. Not everyone is evil."

"I have to agree with my wife on this." Jasper said. "I believe she is a good person, and we should give her a chance."

"Have you gone mad!" Edward yelled. "He will kill her. If he doesn't do it, someone else will." I growled at him and kneeled into a crouch preparing to pounce.

"No one will hurt her." I hissed.

"Enough." Carlisle said as he stood and got between Edward and I. A wave of calm course through the room as I stood. "I have heard enough."

"Emmett, it is obvious to me that she means a lot to you. Alice you as well." She smiled and nodded agreeing with Carlisle, not doubt already seeing his decision. "So we see where this leads. But Emmett you have to be careful. She is only human. She is fragile. And must be treated as such." I nodded my head agreeing with him. Rosalie huffed and ran out of the room with Edward hot on her tail. Esme walked up to me, and place her hand on my cheek.

"I am happy for you, Emmett. She must be a great girl to have stolen you heart. I can't wait to meet her." She said.

"I promise to bring her by." I said. She smiled at me and left in the direction that Carlisle went.

"Let's go for a hunt." Alice said as she ran out of the front door. I took a deep breath and felt the burning within my throat. A hunt would be good. I heard Jasper leave, and I soon followed behind. After we drained two elks each, we began to walk back.

"He's right you know." Jasper said breaking the silence.

"What?" I asked.

"She is fragile."

"I know Jasper. I don't think I could hurt her if I tried." I said defending myself. If you would have told me this morning that I would be defending my control to Jasper, I would have laughed.

"That's not what I meant. You forget, I have felt what you felt all day. I know you won't hurt her physically. I am talking about emotionally. All day her emotions were everywhere like most teenagers, but unlike most students it didn't oscillate between lust and boredom. She felt fear, which may be because it was her first day, but also guilt, grief, and pain. Something happened to her Emmett and you need to be careful."

"I will."

"We know." Alice said patting my back. As we were returning home, the sun was setting. I couldn't help but think about what Jasper had said. I had assumed that she was shy. But after his insight, I am beginning to think that something made her that way. Something happened to her to make her withdrawn. It was apparent that she trusted no one, because she never allowed anyone to get close to her. The thought of something or someone scaring her emotionally, made my senses heighten. The need to be near her grew. The need to protect became my primary objective.

"Guys I am going to.."

"Go." Alice said having already seen my decision to go check on Bella. I immediately changed direction, and began running full speed towards Forks. In five minutes, I was standing outside her house. Her scent intensified by a second story right window, so I climbed the tree to get a better look. What I saw made my heart drop.

Bella was sleeping but not peacefully. She was tossing back and forth as sweat formed on her brow and tears slowly streamed down her cheeks. She mumbled the word no, and turned her body into itself laying in the fetal position. She calmed for a while, but soon the sleeping fit started again. I sat here in the tree for the rest of the night watching Bella's night terrors vowing that I will stop them. I will put an end to all of Bella's fears what ever they may be. And lord help anyone who gets in my way.

**Well there you have it Emmett POV of the first day. I promise this will be the only time I do the same events in two points of view, but I thought it was important to see what Emmett thought of meeting Bella. This is my first time writing in Emmett's POV so I hope I got it right. I have already written the next chapter. So leave some love and I will give you a preview!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for your reviews, Alerts, and favorites. It really gives me the inspiration I need to keep writing. So keep them coming, and I promise to respond with a preview of the next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters belong to SM. No copyright infringement intended.**

(Bpov)

I was him. He was chasing after me. I turned the corner and I ran down a hall lined with doors trying each one, but they were locked. There was one door at the end of the hall, and it was my last hope. I broke out into a full sprint towards it. I could fell my heart pounding through my fingertips. As I reached for the door, I could see my hand tremble.

"You can't run from me Bella. I will always find you." He yelled. I turned around and saw him at the end of the hall slowly stalking towards me. I turned back towards the door, and tried the knob. Like every other door it was locked. Shit. Shit. I turned back around to face him, knowing I was stuck.

"I told you I always get what I want." He said as he closed the distance between us. Tears where streaming down my face.

"Please. Please don't." I begged.

"I love it when they beg." He said to no one in particular. "but that won't save you, Bella. I am here to finish the job." He reached in his back pocket and pulled out a knife. He ran it under his nose and sniffed. "I have been waiting months to do this." He pulled the knife away from his face, and pushed it under my neck. "Have you been waiting for me?"

I couldn't breath. The pressure from the knife was cutting off my air. I could feel a warm liquid running down my neck. He pulled the knife away from my neck, I coughed and brought my hands up to stop the bleeding.

"Fine if you won't answer me, I won't waste anymore of yours or my time." I looked up to see him raise his hand containing the knife. He brought it down and smack me across the face, with the knife slicing my cheek. The force of the hit, bringing me to my knees.

"Please stop." I begged again.

"Don't beg. You sound like you mother." More tears ran down my face as he mentioned her. "She begged as I killed her. Begged me not to." He looked down at me crying. "You miss her don't you?" He laughed as I nodded. "Don't worry you will be with her soon." I looked up at him and the smirk on his face sent chills down my spine. He raised his hand with the knife once again.

"No" I yelled as I shot out of bed. My hands immediately went to my neck trying to stop the blood, but there was none there. It was only a dream. It was just a dream. My mind keep telling me that, but my body wouldn't believe it. My heart was pounding, and my hands were trembling. I looked at the clock. Shit, school starts in ten minutes. I ran out of my room and into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Once my face was washed, I threw on a pair of jeans and a tee. I looked outside, saw it was pouring and grabbed my plaid rain boots and coat. I ran downstairs, grabbed my backpack, and sprinted towards the car.

Before I reached the drivers side door, I lost my footing and fell in the drive way. This was not going to be a good day. I stood and looked at my jeans. They weren't soak but they weren't dry. I don't have time to change, I thought. I got into the car and floored it all the way to school. I looked at the clock when I pulled into the parking lot. Class started 15 minutes ago. I got out and ran into the language arts building.

"You're late." Ms. Kelly said as I ran into the room.

"Sorry." I looked at the floor, as I walked to my seat. My shoes squeaking with every step.

"As I was saying, yesterday I gave the history our the author of Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky. Now I will give you and introduction to the book itself."

I tuned her out after that. In all honesty, I was still reeling from my nightmare. It felt so real, I could still feel his hands on me. My heart once again began pounding and my hands began shaking. My breathing quickened and tears began to come to my eyes. I am going to have a panic attack in the middle of class, I thought. Then all the sudden, I felt relaxed and calm. I don't know where it came from but I welcomed it. I took deep breaths until my breathing regulated. My heart slowed down and my hands began to still. Crisis averted. I jumped out of my seat as the bell rang.

"Alright read the first part of the book by tomorrow. Don't complain it has been on the syllabus for weeks." Ms. Kelly said as everyone began packing up their stuff. Good thing I am a fast reader. I grabbed my backpack and began to head to math.

"What happened this morning?" Jessica asked.

"I over slept." Shit I am one question in and already annoyed. After my morning, I have no patience.

"Oh I hate when that happens." She said with a smile on her face. "So you know the valentines day dance is coming up this weekend, are you planning on going?"

"No."

"What if someone asked you?"

"Still probably won't go."

"I bet someone will ask you." Does she have an off button?

Jessica continued to hound me about the dance as we walked to class. Once again, I zoned out during math and ignored the entire lesson. It will be a miracle if I pass this year. By the time, lunch rolled around, I was tried and irritable.

"So Bella," I heard Eric say as we walked into the cafeteria. "you know about the dance this weekend?" Oh Fuck!

"Jessica told me about it, but I am not planning on going." I said trying to be as polite as possible.

"Oh well I was trying to find a date.." I refuse to let him finish that sentence.

"Maybe you should ask someone, like.." I looked around the room trying to find a willing victim. "Angela." I saw Eric face fall, but Tyler need a little fire under his butt to realize that he likes her anyway. A little jealousy will do him some good.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yea, I think you two will have fun." I patted his shoulder and walked towards the lunch table before he had a chance to respond. The rest on lunch I was silent. I played with the food on my plate until the bell rang. I stood and began to walk towards Bio. Emmett was already at our table when I entered the room. I quietly sat down beside him and pulled out my notebook.

"Hey Bella." I heard Mike say as he walked over to my lab table.

"Yea." I turned towards him with my back facing Emmett, when Mike made it to our table. I swear I heard Emmett groan as he approached.

"You know the Valentine's day dance is this weekend." He started.

"I wasn't planning on going." I quickly responded hoping he would get the hint. Of course he didn't

"Well that's probably because you don't have a date."

"No it's not that at all." I said quietly, but he didn't hear me.

"So you should go with me." That wasn't even a question.

"Seriously Mike. I am not going." I said.

"But I just asked you. So you have a date now." He was so sure of himself.

"You didn't ask me. Yo told me. Which was really nice of you, I guess, but I am not going." I was trying to be as nice a possible, but I really wanted to tell him to Fuck Off. "I have a lot off unpacking to do."

"Maybe I can come over and help. Then you will be done twice as fast and we can go to the dance." The thought of Mike in my room made me want to vomit.

"Maybe you should ask someone else. Like Lauren." They deserve each other.

"But I want to go with you." He said forcefully causing me to lean away from him. I heard Emmett's chair slide against the floor as I did so.

"But I am not going, so go with Lauren." Mikes eyes looked at something behind me and then came back to mine.

"You're right maybe next time." He said as he walked back towards his seat.

I turned back towards the front and pulled out my notebook. I took a deep breath trying to calm myself. I looked to my left and saw Emmett staring at me once again. There was a smirk on his face and a lightness in his eyes. Come to think of it, they were lighter than yesterday. I turned back the front, but still felt his eyes on me. Getting frustrated and annoyed, I turned back to him.

"What are you looking at?" I asked sternly. The smirk on his face grew to a full smile, as the bell rang.

"Alright everyone." Mr. Boyle said causing me to face the front. "You and your lab partner have all class period to do the 50 questions that I will hand out. You must turn them in at the end of class." Mr. Boyle began to walk around the class and hand out a packet. As I got ours, I was afraid to turn back to Emmett. I was rude to him for absolutely no reason. I took all my frustrations of the day out on him.

"Sorry." I said as I passed him the packet.

"For what?" He asked jovially as if nothing had happened. I looked at him only to see the same smile on his face.

"My rude comment. You didn't deserve that."

"I would be pissed off too, if I had to deal with that." He said as he tilted his head towards Mike. I couldn't help but smile at him. He always just seemed so happy.

"Ok let get these questions done." I said as I motion towards the packet. The rest of the class period Emmett and I worked on the questions. Surprisingly he was remarkably smart. He knew the answer to every question without even looking it up. In the beginning I checked his answers but by question thirty I just trusted he was right. Needless to say we were done before anyone else. I looked at the clock, and saw that we had ten minutes left of class. There was not way I could have finished those questions without his help. I stood and walked over to Mr. Boyle to hand in our work.

"So do you like it here in Forks?" He asked after I returned.

"It's okay." I said. After how I treated him earlier, I felt as if I had to be nice to him. "Just colder, wetter, and cloudier."

"Don't like the weather?" He asked with a laugh.

"Do you?"

"It's not so bad. You just have to get used to it."

"I will let you know when that happens." I whispered as I looked over at him. He was perfect. He had perfect skin, a perfectly straight nose, full bowed lips, and a strong jaw. He was defiantly a man's man. And given his size, you knew not to mess with him. But those dimples gave him a childish aspect, that contradicted everything. Everything about him told you to stay away, but the dimples drew you in. He was a perfect contradiction.

"So why did you move here?" I raised my eyebrows as he asked me. But unlike with Jessica, I wasn't annoyed. I know she always asked me questions just so she could have the lasted gossip. But with Emmett, I felt as if whatever was said would stay between the two of us. Against my own better judgement, I trusted him.

"A series of unfortunate events." I may have trusted him, but not enough to reveal everything.

"I am sorry." His smile retreated as he said this. His lips formed a thin line. The serious look was all wrong on his face. I felt as if I would do anything to bring that smile back.

"I don't know why your sorry." I said with a small smile. "You can't change the past. You have to deal with the cards you are dealt, and make the most of them." I wish I could actually practice that, I thought.

"Most people wouldn't have that outlook."

"I am not most people."

"I am beginning to see that." He whispered as he leaned towards me looking straight into my eyes. The bell rang and students began to pack up an leave class, but Emmett and I stayed staring into each others eyes. I could move. He had captured me with a look. Emmett was the first to look away. He grabbed his bag and stood.

"See you in gym Bella." And with that he walked out the door. I shook my head trying to break my trance and packed my backpack. As I walked into history, I saw both Alice and Jasper sitting by the seat I had sat in yesterday. I sat down with Alice to my right and Jasper was in front of her.

"It's going to be a study hall today." Alice leaned over to me and whispered.

"What? How do you know that?" I asked as the teacher stood.

"We are going to have a study hall today. I have not been feeling well, so keep the talking to a minimum." He stated.

I guess Alice was right, maybe she heard from another student. I pulled out Crime and Punishment and began to read for English. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, reading about Raskolnikov planning his attack.

But once I came to the point where he was committing a crime, it hit to close to home.

I felt my breathing quicken and the tears come to my eyes. The book was shaking which meant my hand were as well. I felt calm once again surround me, but this time it didn't work. It only caused me to panic more. I felt as if I was suffocating in it. I looked around the room, the wall where closing on me. I stood up quickly and went to the teachers desk.

"May I go to the bathroom?" I asked. He nodded his head, and I turned to walk out of the room. By the time I made it to the bathroom, tears were streaming down my face. I walking into a stall, locked it, sat on the toilet, and began to hyperventilate. I heard the bathroom door open and close. I pulled my knees up to my chest and tried to stay as quiet as possible.

"Bella?" I heard a voice say. "I know you in here." Shit.

Giving up I stood, opened the stall, and walked out. Alice had her back turned towards me as she locked the actual door to the bathroom. Why didn't I think of that?

She turned around, and walked over to me.

"Are you ok?" She asked as she handed me a paper towel to dry my tears.

"I wish." I said as more tears began to fall. She quickly walked over to me and wrapped her arms around me. She tried to comfort me by repeatedly telling me that everything was going to be okay. This was something I had missed. Since that day, I had to put on a brave face. I had to make sure he was brought to justice. But not once did anyone look after me. I guess it was because I looked like I had taken it so well. But I was broken inside. I still am.

When my body couldn't produce anymore tears, I pulled away from her.

"I am sorry." I said.

"For what?"

"I ruined you shirt." She laughed and I could help but laugh with her. After the laughter died down, silence over took the room.

"You didn't have to come after me."

"Yes. I did. Do you want to talk about it?" I shook my head.

"I just wanna go home?" Where home was, I didn't know.

"Ok well I will tell Ms. Cope and Coach you got sick and went home." She said.

"Thanks." I replied as I began to walk towards the door, becoming embarrassed that Alice had seen me in a moment of weakness.

"Bella," She said before I walked out. She walked over to me and handed my backpack. "I took the liberty to program my number in you phone. Call if you need someone to talk to. I'm serious, even if it is three in the morning. Call me. I'll listen."

"Okay." I said as I turned and walked towards the parking lot. I didn't bother to ask how she got my phone, it was in my backpack. Once I made it to the house, I ran up to my room and laid on my bed. I couldn't cry. I had already cried myself dry. I just laid there. I never felt so numb before in my life.

After a while I looked at the clock and saw that Charlie would be home soon. I pushed myself off of the bed and walked to the bathroom to clean myself up. As I looked in the mirror, I hated what I saw. I looked just like her. I had her hair. I had her eyes. And I hated it. She was perfect, I was not. But these looks are the reason she is not here. They are the reason they both aren't here. I am responsible for their death. Their blood in on my hands.

The more that I looked at myself, the more I saw her. She was everywhere. I could take it. I raise my hand in a fist and slammed it into the mirror repeatedly until it was in shards at my feet. I looked down at my hand and saw blood. Probably more than I should have. But I didn't care. It's about time my own blood was on my hands. I lowered myself to the floor and sat. I don't know how long I sat there bleeding out on the floor, but the last thing I remember is Charlie coming home.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews. Keep them coming they really inspire me. Just to give you a heads up, I will be out of town till next week, so I don't know if I will be able to update. But don't worry, I will continue to write. So hopefully I will be a couple of chapters ahead. And you will still get your preview for a review. I am going to write the next chapter tonight before I leave. So hit that button at the end, and let me know what you think.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters belong to SM. No copyright infringement intended.**

**(Em pov)**

Jasper and I stood outside of the bathroom that Alice had currently locked herself and Bella in. I stared at the lock contemplating breaking down the door.

"Do not." I heard Alice say to so quickly Bella would not have heard. It was only ten minutes ago, I was sitting in class, listening to Bella's heartbeat once again, now I am standing outside of the girls bathroom, listening to her sob. Hearing her gasping or air, and smelling the saltiness of her tears. It made me want to rip my still heart out.

"Come on lets go. The bell is about to ring for gym." Jasper said as he put his arm on my shoulder. My worry immediately began to dissipate. The stupid fucker is trying to manipulate me.

"I am not going anywhere." I said shrugging him off.

"What are you going to do when she opens that door?" Jasper argued. "If you are standing here waiting for her, you are just going to scare her off. She is in there with Alice. She is safe, but she is embarrassed. She doesn't want anyone to know about her little breakdown. You are only going to make it worse by hanging around."

"I am not leaving her."

"You need to." Alice said from the other side of the door. "If you don't go to gym, it will call more attention to the fact that Bella and I aren't there. I have already seen it. She is not going to go to gym anyway, she is going to go home. You going to class will make this a lot easier for her."

"Fine." I said turning to walk towards the gym. I would do anything to ease her burden.

Gym was uneventful. We played whiffle ball again only I was not on Lauren's team this time. She made sure to fall in front of me, and I made she I watched her. I couldn't even bring myself to help her up, I just turned and walked away. In the middle of class, I heard the sound of Bella's truck. She was going home. The need to follow her coursed through me, but I held myself back. There is only 30 more minutes of class. I will see her then.

After class, Jasper and I walked to my car. Alice was leaning against the driver's side door. I threw my bag in the back and walked towards her.

"You're not going to her." Alice said.

"What?" That's not what I was expecting.

"She is heartbroken, give her some time. Alone."

"I will let her think she is alone." I responded.

"Please just trust me on this." She pleaded.

"Fine." I huffed conceding to Alice for the second time today as she got in the backseat of the jeep. I didn't even bother to wait for Rosalie and Edward, I just pulled out of the parking lot.

The whole ride home was silent. I am sure everyone's mind was preoccupied with Bella.

"Alice did she tell you anything?" I asked hoping I could get a clue of what happened to cause this.

"No. She was so guarded. She pretty much thanked me for being there, and went on her way. But I did give her my number and tell her to call me if she had any problems." It was slightly comforting to know that if she had any problems, she could call us.

"Just give her so time." Jasper said. "I may not know what it is, but I know she is dealing with a lot. She is not a very trusting person, you are going to have to earn that before she tells you."

Once we made it home, Jasper offered to play some video games with me, no doubt trying to get my mind off of going to see Bella. We were sitting in the living room playing Madden, when Rosalie and Edward came in.

"I hear your little human had a mental breakdown." Rosalie teased. "You pick the crazy girl." I rolled my eyes, and ignored her. Rosalie had no room to talk about being crazy. That bitch is as crazy as it gets.

After Rosalie and Edward went upstairs, probably to fuck, my mind wandered back to Bella. Hearing her heart accelerate like that, while I was sitting in class, nearly gave me a heart attack. I didn't need Jasper's power to know that she was terrified. And I knew it was bad, when he tried to calm her down and it didn't work.

"Dude relax." Jasper said.

"I can't. I am too worried."

"You don't have to tell me that." He joked.

"Do you know what caused her to react like that?" I asked.

"No, she was reading then all the sudden.." He didn't have to finish. "Alice says she is fine so stop worrying. I want your full attention when I kick your ass."

"I am sorry. When have you ever kick my ass in Madden?" I questioned.

"There is a first time for everything."

"Fuck that."

With that challenge, Jasper and I immersed ourselves in the game, talking trash to each other every play. By the time half time came around, we had been playing for two hours. Alice was laying on the couch reading a fashion magazine, when she suddenly gasped and dropped it. Jasper and I immediately turned towards her waiting to her to tell us what she was seeing.

"We have to go." She said staring straight at me after she came to.

"What did you see?" Jasper asked.

"Bella." As soon as she her name, I was on my feet. "She is on her way to the hospital."

I grabbed the keys for the jeep, and ran out of the door.

"Jasper, call Carlisle and let him know." Alice said as she followed me out the door.

I sped the whole way to the hospital, cursing myself for leaving her.

"Do you know what happened?" I asked.

"No I just saw Charlie telling her to hang on and that they were almost there. I think I only saw it seconds before is happened."

"Shit." As I willed my jeep to move faster, I wondered if I should have run instead.

We pulled into the hospital parking lot, and quickly ran to Carlisle office.

"What happened?" I said as we barged in.

"Hello to you to." He smiled but I did not return it. I was too concerned about Bella.

"I saw Bella being taken here. What happened?" Alice asked.

"I knew it would be a matter of time before you showed up." He took an unnecessary breath before he continued. "She slammed her hand against a mirror until it broke."

"Is she ok?"

"Her hand is pretty cut up. The wounds are being cleaned and stitched as we speak. The biggest problem was stopping the bleeding. One of the cuts were close to the artery in her wrist. But it is all taken care of now. She will be fine, sore but fine."

I sat on the couch in his office, and put my head in my hands. I had failed her. I turn my back for a couple of hours, and she is in the hospital.

"What room is she in?" Alice asked.

"The last door on the left. Just so you know, she is asleep right now. Apparently, the sight of blood makes her faint. She passed out while they were cleaning the glass out of her wounds."

I stood and followed Alice out into the hall. I ignored the burning in my throat, and focus on the smell of the antiseptic and the fact that Bella need's my help. As we walked into the room, Bella was asleep and Charlie was sitting at her bed side. He stood as we entered.

"Mr. Swan my name is Alice and this is my brother Emmett. We know Bella from school."

"You're Dr. Cullen's kids." We both nodded our heads. "Is there anyway I could talk to your father?"

"Yea, He is in his office let me take you to him." Alice said as she waved him to follow her. "There is a bottle on water in the bed side table." Alice said quietly to me before she left.

What the fuck?

Once Charlie had left the room, I walked to the bottom of the bed and looked over Bella's body. Her right hand was heavily bandaged, but other than that she looked normal. A little pale, but normal.

What could have caused her to do this? What is she so afraid of?

I was broken out of my internal questionnaire, by the sound of Bella's name.

"I just don't know what to do." I heard Charlie's voice say.

"Losing one's parents is a hard burden to bare, especially at 17. You said it happen right in front of her?" Carlisle asked.

"Yea, she saw everything."

"Has she seen anyone?" I assume Charlie answered him visually because there was a pause. "Maybe she should. I can recommend someone here at the hospital for you."

"She refuses to get help. And before she moved here, I never saw the need for it. She was so strong. I never saw her cry, not at the funeral, and not at the trail. I just assumed she was taking it well."

I stop eavesdropping on Carlisle and Charlie's conversation, because I heard Bella's breathing become uneven. I didn't want to. I was learning more about her from that conversation, than I had in the two that I had had personally with her.

Bella began to stir. Her eyes slowly opened, she looked unsure of her surrounding as if as couldn't remember how she got there. She raised her hands as winced. My hands flinched with the need to hold her, protect her, and comfort her. But I held back, it would only freak her out if I ran over to her now. She sat up slowly, and looked around the room. When her eyes met mine, they opened wide and her mouth dropped. I couldn't help but smile at how cute she was.

"Emmett, what are you doing here?" She asked with a raspy voice. I immediately understood why Alice mentioned the water. I walked over to the bed side table and handed her the bottle.

"Thanks." She said after she took a few sips. "What are you doing here?" She asked again with conviction. This is where I have to lie. There is no way I can tell her that my psychic tinkerbell of sister had a vision of her going to the hospital. Yea, she would never talk to me again.

"Alice and I came to the hospital to drop some food off to my dad that my mom made tonight."

"Oh, you dad works at the hospital?"

"Yea, he is your doctor. That's how I knew you where here."

"I guess that makes sense."

"So what happened?" I asked know very well that she hit a mirror.

"I slipped." Lie. Besides the fact the I knew the truth, her heart accelerated a little as she said it.

"Hmm." I said as I raised my eyebrows, letting her know that I didn't believe her.

"Yea I am really clumsy."

"Oh I know. Remember gym." I teased with a smile. Her eyes got wide and her cheeks blushed. I inhaled deeply taking in her scent. Just smelling her made my body warm.

"Your Awake." I heard Alice say as she entered the room, she immediately flung herself onto Bella's bed and put her arms around her.

"Be careful." I hiss as I saw Bella raise her arm and wince to hug Alice back.

"No it's ok." Bella said look at me after Alice released her. "It is nice not to be treated like a porcelain doll." Her face fell after she said this and her eyes began to tear. I wanted to wrap her in my arms and tell her that everything was going to be ok. I wanted to get her out of this hospital that she clearly was adverse to. I wanted to care for her and protect her so that I never had to see this look on her face again.

"Emmett, Carlisle wanted to talk to you in his office." Alice said to me not taking her eyes off of Bella. I nodded knowing that Carlisle was still talking to Charlie and stepped out of the room. I was torn between going back to listening to Carlisle conversation with Charlie or the one that was about to take place in the room I just left. But after hearing Alice's first question I couldn't tear my ears away.

"Bella," Alice whined. "What happened?"

"I don't even know." Bella said. I could smell the saltiness of her tears in the air, or maybe it was saline either way, I could hear the hurt in her voice.

"I told you to call me if you needed someone to talk to."

"I know, but it all happened so fast. I was just looking at my reflection, and the next thing I knew I was smashing it." It hurt. It hurt me that Bella was hurting. It hurt me that she didn't trust me enough to tell me the truth. And it hurt that she had not problem telling Alice everything.

"Why would you do that?"

"There are so many answers to that question, but the short one is that I am just fuck up." Her voice got at least an octave higher as she said this.

"Stop it." Alice scolded. "You are fine. It's okay."

"No it's not. Everyone probably thinks I am some suicidal lunatic and it wasn't that at all. I just didn't want to look at myself anymore." She sounded so broken down. For the second time today I had to hold myself back from interrupting Alice to comfort her.

"No one thinks that." Alice comforted. I was broken out of my snooping to the sound of Carlisle's office door opening. He and Charlie started to walk towards me, no doubt heading to Bella's room.

"This is my son Emmett." Carlisle said as they approached me.

"We met earlier." Charlie said as he nodded towards me. He looked as I felt. He eyes where bloodshot, his short hair was everywhere, and there were remnants of Bella's blood on his clothing. It wasn't only a tough day for Bella, he seemed to be on the end of his rope as well. "How is she?"

"She is awake sir." I responded. He nodded and walked towards her room. Within seconds Alice was outside standing with myself and Carlisle.

"He seems stressed." I said.

"That's an understatement." Carlisle responded. "He didn't even know he had a niece until he got a call saying that he was given custody of her as her only living relative."

"What?" I asked surprised.

"They didn't know each other existed until a couple of weeks ago."

"Wow." Alice said.

"Emmett, I don't know the whole story of what happened to her, but from what Charlie had told me it was awful. Are you sure you are up to this?" I nodded unsure about how to voice my feelings for her.

"Good, because she is going to need you help." He said sternly. "But on a positive note from what I could tell when she was awake, she seems like an amazing girl." I smiled at his compliment.

"That she is."

"We're going to be best friends." Alice added in, never one for being left out.

"Okay well you guys should go home. Give her some space to heal."

"When will she be released?" I asked.

"Either later tonight or early tomorrow morning. I wouldn't expect her to be at school tomorrow."

"Ok will you just call me when she gets out?" I asked needing to keep tabs on her at all times now. The one time I let my guard down she ends up in the hospital.

"Of course."

As Alice and I left the hospital, I could help but feel I was leaving me heart as well.


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks so much guys for you patience. I had a great vacation and I wrote a lot. So updates will definitely be happening more frequently. To give you an idea, I am in the middle of writing Chapter 10. But onwards to chapter 6, for which I am going to apologize in advance for the lack of imagination with the lab. I haven't taken bio in awhile. Don't forget to let me know what you think at the end. My birthday is coming up and reviews would be a great gift. hint. hint. And I will even be the polite woman my mother raised me to be and send you a thanks you card with a preview. So Review!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters belong to SM. No copyright infringement intended.**

(Bpov)

I spent the rest of the night in the hospital. They said they wanted to monitor me, but I think they had me on suicide watch. At five in the morning, Carlisle finally gave me the go ahead to head home, after prescribing me some medication for the pain. Charlie drove the whole way silently.

"I don't think you should go to school today." He said as we entered the house. I nodded. I was too tired to speak. I began to climb the stairs when Charlie stopped me.

"Bella can I talk to you for a minute before you head upstairs?" He asked. I knew this was bound to happen. I mean I did just shatter the mirror, in his only bathroom, with my hand.

I followed him into the living room and sat next to him on the couch. His expression said nothing. He was completely blank. I didn't know wether to expect a beating or hug. Given that I didn't know him very well, it could be either. I decided to break the silence, with an apology.

"Um...Thanks for taking me to the hospital. And I am sorry about the mirror. I will pay for it." I tried to cover all my bases with that statement, leaving him no room to find me ungrateful.

"I am not worried about the mirror Bella." Charlie responded as he shook his head. "And I am glad I made it home in time to take you to the hospital, but we need to talk about why you did this. What caused you to punch the mirror?"

I didn't know how to respond. He was asking a question he had every right to know the answer too. It was his mirror I broke. But I couldn't find the words to explain what I felt. How do you say it is all your fault that his sister is dead? How do you tell someone that you might hate the person you are and wish you were the person you were? How do you explain that you wish you died with them? There is no way I feel comfortable enough with this man I barely knew to explain all of that.

I heard Charlie huff, as I sat there quietly.

"Well, if you are not going to talk to me, will you at least talk to a professional?"

"What?" I was shocked. He knew I want nothing to do with a psychiatrist.

"I just think that maybe you should talk to someone who can help you understand your feelings."

"I understand my feelings just fine." I responded quickly.

"I know that you don't want to see a doctor, but I think it is a good idea. They may be able to help you with you grief."

"What do you know about grief?" I said standing yelling down at him. I could feel myself getting defensive. "You lost a sister that left you nineteen years ago."

"I understand that you went through a lot in Phoenix, and maybe you just need someone to talk to about it." He said trying to be calm, but his words just set me off.

"You understand?" I said incredulously. "You think understand what I went through. You know nothing!"

"I am not trying to say understand what you are going through Bella." Charlie stood as he finished. "But I do know it was a lot, and that it must be hard to deal with. I just want you to be okay. You may not believe it, but I do care about you."

I could feel the tears in my eyes. There is no way he cares about me. He only found out I existed a little over two months ago. The only reason he cares about me, is because he has to. The feeling of loneliness hit me. I once again felt alone. No one here truly cares about me, he does because he has to. I could feel the tears come to my eyes, and I refuse to let him see me cry.

"May I go upstairs now, I am feeling very tried?" I asked coldly. He blew out a huge breath of air and nodded his head.

I didn't even say goodnight. I just went upstairs and fell into my bed. Tears silently fell down my cheeks. Eventually I fell asleep.

I was startled awake the door bell. I looked over at the clock and saw that is was five in the afternoon. I slept longer that I thought. I couldn't remember if Charlie was home or not, so I got out of bed and walked towards the door.

As I walked down the stairs, I saw Charlie opening the front door. I contemplated turning around and going back to my room when I saw him. But the urge to run away disappeared when I saw who was standing on the porch.

"Hello Mr. Swan. I came to drop off the work Bella missed today."

I closed my eyes and just listen to the smoothness of his voice. It was so confident, so welcoming.

"Oh thank you, Emmett. You didn't have to do that."

I opened my eyes to Charlie reaching for a folder from Emmett.

"We had a lab today in biology, so I wanted to see when Bella was available to work on it."

"She is asleep right now but.."

"I'm awake." I interrupted as I started to walk down the stairs.

Charlie looked at me as I approached his side.

"Are you sure you are up to talking about school work?" He asked.

"I have to go to school tomorrow anyway, might as well know what I am getting into." He nodded and went back into the living room.

"Are you feeling better?" Emmett asked with a smile as I turned to face him.

"I have been worse." I said trying to lighten the mood, but the look on his face only soured. "Anyways what was this about a lab?" I finished changing the subject.

"We had a lab today in biology, and I figured we could do it together. When you are up to it of course."

"You didn't have to wait for me to do the lab. I doubt I would have been any help."

"Oh no I already did it. But it can be a tricky, so I thought I could help you."

"Thanks. That's really nice of you." He beamed as I complimented him, bringing out his dimples in full force. "When could we work on it?"

"Well if you are going to be at school tomorrow, we could do it after gym?"

"Okay."

This was a win win situation for me. I got help on my lab and I didn't have to spent as much time alone tomorrow as I thought.

"Good. I will tell Mr. Boyle tomorrow that you will do it then." He finished as he turned to walk back to his car.

"Emmett." He stopped and turned towards me expectantly. "Thanks for getting the school work I missed. I know you had to have gone out of your way."

He smiled and looked straight into my eyes.

"No worries. I know what it is like to miss school, and be behind. I didn't want you to feel like that."

"Well thank you." He nodded and turned away and walked back to his jeep. I watched his large form disappear. I watched the way his muscles moved underneath his shirt. I watched his biceps clench as he closed his fists. I even watched his butt as he walked away. I was then I then I saw his body turn towards me. I quickly brought my eyes up to his, but the smirk that was on his face told me I had been caught. Feeling myself grow redder by the second, I raised my hand in a quick wave and shut the door.

So embarrassing.

I turned around to only find Charlie staring at me.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he looked down at the floor. He was afraid to talk to me, and I cannot blame him. I am ashamed of the things I said to him this morning. That doesn't mean I didn't mean it. I did, but it never should have been said.

"Okay. My hand hurts, but it is bearable." I tried to be as neutral as possible.

"Good. Are you sure you are up to going to school tomorrow?"

"I don't want to miss anymore days. I am already behind because I started in the middle of the year, I don't want to make it worse." He nodded his head.

"Well there is pizza on the kitchen table if you want some." I shook my head.

"No thank you. I am not very hungry." All he eats is pizza.

"Okay, well while you were asleep, I went to the pharmacy and got the medication Carlisle prescribed to you." He handed me the see through orange bottle.

"Thanks. I think I am just going to go upstairs and lay down." He nodded as I walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water. I opened the child proof bottle and took a pill. I placed my glass into the sink, and walked back up the stairs into my bedroom.

After a I laid on my bed for a couple of minutes, I could feel the medication working. My arm was no longer throbbing, and my eyelids where getting heavy. There is no way I can take this before school, thought as I felt myself give in to sleep.

I was woken up by the sounds of shuffling down stairs. I looked over at the clock and realized I had gotten up early. Feeling more rested than I had in a long time, I got up and took a shower. I searched my boxes for a pair of jeans and a white fitted tee. I finished it off with my metallic flats and a navy blue scarf. I took the time to blow dry my and even put on a little make up. As I walked down the stairs to eat something for breakfast, Charlie was at the sink washing dishes.

"Oh good you're up." He stated when he saw me enter.

"Yea I woke up early." I walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a bowl. I grabbed the cereal Charlie had placed on the counter and poured it in. Once I had gotten milk, I went to sit at the kitchen table.

"You feeling okay?" He asked as he came to sit across from me.

"Yea, the medication really helped me sleep last night." I said as I put a spoonful of cereal in my mouth.

"Good. Well I just received a call from a town near by. They had a body show up, and need my help with the investigation."

"How often does that happen?" I asked.

"Not often. We are surrounded by small towns. So when one of us has a crime, all of us help out." I nodded. "Anyways, they asked my to come up for the weekend and help out."

"Okay?" I said not really understanding what he meant.

"If I go, I will be gone all weekend. You will be home alone." He was obviously not comfortable leaving me home by myself all weekend.

"I will be okay if you had to leave for the weekend."

"You sure? I don't want you to be unhappy." He was not so slyly trying to say the last time I left you home alone you ended up in the hospital. I couldn't have Charlie worry about me all the time.

"I will be fine. It will give to time up unpack all of my stuff." I tried to reassure him that I would not have idle time on my hands to get into trouble.

"Okay, well I will be leaving early tomorrow morning, so you won't see me on your way to school." I nodded as I shoved more cereal in my mouth happy that Charlie felt he didn't have to babysit me.

"Also I already to talk to my friend, Billy Black. He said he will be by to check on you a couple of time over the weekend. Just to make sure you don't need anything." I spoke to soon.

"And I will let Dr. Cullen know that will be here by yourself, just incase." I could only nod my head. He was going to let the whole town know I was going to be home by myself. He stood after listing a couple of other people I didn't know that I could call if I had a problem.

"Okay well I have to get going. Have a good day at school, and I will see you tonight." He started to walk towards the front door when he suddenly turned around. "Bella?" I looked up at him as he called my name. "Please call me if you have any trouble at school."

"Okay."

The drive to school was dull. I pulled into the parking lot and walked to my english classroom. I sat in my usual seat and ignored the teacher once again. On the way to Math, Jessica bombarded me with questions.

"Where were you yesterday? I didn't see you at school. And what happened to your arm?" She asked excitedly. She thought she was going to be the first to get the scoop on why the new kid was missing.

"Sick." I said trying to avoid the topic of my bandaged hand.

"I heard you where in the hospital?"

"How did you hear that?"

"Everyone knows. But I heard because my mother is a nurse there." What ever happen to doctor patient confidentiality?

"Umm. Yea. I slipped and my arm hit some glass." I lied.

"Oh well. I hope you get better." She said as we entered the math building. No doubt by lunch everyone in the school will know that I slipped and cut my hand on glass.

By the time lunch came around, I had been asked what happened so much, that I eventually just let Jessica answer the question for me. I just sat at the table and played with my awful school lunch food. When I enter the biology classroom, I saw Emmett sitting at our table. I gave him a quick smile, which he returned, as I walked towards Mr. Boyle's desk.

"Mr. Boyle." I said grabbing his attention. "I heard I missed a lab yesterday."

"Oh yes, your partner Mr. Cullen already told me that were going to make it up today after school."

"He did?" I asked shocked.

"Was I miss informed?"

"No. No. I just didn't expect him have spoken with you."

"Ok good. I have a meeting I have to attend at that time, but he has agreed to stay with you to explain everything and answer any questions you might have. He got a hundred on it so he is more that qualified." He finished as he turned back to his reading dismissing me. Jackass.

Figuring the conversation was now over, I turned and walked back towards my desk. I sat down in my seat next to Emmett, and turned towards him.

"Thank you." I said.

"For what?"

"For talking to Mr. Boyle for me."

"I told you I would."

"I know, but I didn't expect you too."

He leaned in towards me and looked straight into my eyes making me feel as though we were the only people in the room.

"I will always keep my word, Bella." As I opened my mouth to respond the bell rang for class to start. Mr. Boyle stood to start his lecture, and Emmett leaned back away from me and turned to face forward. I looked around the room to see if anyone had noticed out exchange. As I looked behind me, I was meet with two angry scowls from Mike and Lauren. At seeing their faces I quickly turned and faced forward. Not dealing with that, I thought.

The rest of class, Mr. Boyle stood up in front of the class and lectured while I took notes. By the time class ended, my hand was throbbing. I wish I hit the mirror with my left hand, I thought as I pack up my stuff.

"See you in gym." Emmett said as he put his backpack on his shoulder and left the room. I once again watched him leave. God he is good looking. I walked to history, quickly, and sat in my seat. Alice sat next to me again today, and our teacher stood to start his lecture. Damn, more notes.

"Don't worry about taking notes Bella, we can just copy mine later." Alice said to me before the teacher started his speech. I was just about to ask her if I could just copy hers. I sat the rest of class trying to listen intently since I wasn't writing anything down.

After history ended, Alice, Jasper and I walked towards the gym. When we entered, I walked straight up to coach and asked if I could sit out today. He took one look at my bandage arm and agreed. I spent the rest of class sitting on the bleachers, watching Emmett play whiffle ball. His body was a work of art. It was built for this type of activity, yet it seemed like he was holding back. Every once and a while, he would look up and catch me staring. He would give me this cheeky grin and I would quickly divert my eyes. The boy was good looking, and he knew it.

When the whistle blew to signal the end of class, I stood, slung my backpack on, and walked over to Emmett.

"You ready?" He asked. I could only nod as he beamed his big smile at me. "Great. Let me get my backpack out of the locker room and we can go."

As he went to get his things, I stood awkwardly waiting for his return. I felt a hand lightly tap on my shoulder, so I turned around expecting to see Alice. But I was met by someone who wasn't as sweet.

"So you think you two are just so tight now?" Lauren said with a sneer. I decided to play dumb. Maybe if I pretend I don't know what she is talking about then she will leave me alone.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"You and Emmett. I see the way you look at him, and you should know that he is too good for you. I mean you are ordinary. Plane Jane. He deserves better." With that she just turned on her heel and walked away.

I wasn't given time to think about Lauren's jab, as I heard Emmett behind me.

"Alright, I got everything lets go." He said. I turned and looked at him as I nodded. He smile was gone and his jaw was set. What happen in the locker room?

"You okay?" I asked as we walked towards the science building.

"Yea why?"

"You just seem a little mad." I stated hoping I didn't over step my bounds. I haven't really know him that long.

"I am fine. I just heard something in the locker room I didn't like." I didn't question him further because I didn't want to know what the boys talked about to piss him off. Chances are it was over a girl. The thought of Emmett getting mad over another girl just didn't sit right with me. Hell the thought of Emmett talking to another girl made me want to rip out someone's throat.

As we entered the classroom, a binder was on the teachers desk with my name on it. Emmett grabbed it as we walked towards the table we had sat in only hours before. I opened the folder to find the lab instructions and a set of slides. Emmett came and sat down next to me with a microscope in hand.

"You have to look at each slide and label it according to the stages of mitosis and miosis." He said pushing the microscope towards me. As I reached for it our fingers slightly touched. I immediately felt a shock course through me. I looked straight up into his eyes as he pulled his hands away. He turned and plugged in the microscope, so that it would light up, as I pulled out each slide.

"You may have to help me with this." I said.

"That's fine." He replied giving me his trademark dimpled smile. I could feel my heart stutter, as I took him in. His smile only got wider as if he had heard.

"No really. I have not taken biology since freshman year, and I was awful." I heard a booming laugh after my confession. Emmett had his head thrown back he was laughing to hard.

"I am serious. If we have to do any dissections you will probably be doing most of the work as I try not to faint." He only laughed harder.

"I am glad you find my incompetency so funny." I said under my breath. His laughing immediately stopped, and he turned to face me.

"I am sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel that way. It is just the way you said it was funny. I will have no problems helping you out this year, trust me." The smile was back and for the second time today my heart stuttered. What the hell is wrong with me?

"Although if there is blood you may have to take over." He finished.

"Oh no. If there is blood, your on your own, because I will definitely be passed out on the floor." I said with I smile, to let him know it was okay to laugh. He chuckled slightly then leaned in closer to me, so that our faces where only inches a part.

"How about on days when there is blood involved we both skip." I felt his breath fan across my face as he spoke. It smelled so sweet. I had to hold myself back from leaning forward just to get more of him. He pulled back quickly and pointed to the microscope.

"Okay partner let get down to business." I spent the next fifteen minutes writing down my guesses for each slide as Emmett sat quietly watching my every move. When I had an answer for every slide I handed the paper over to him to check my work.

"Only these are right." He said as he handed it back to me. Shit I missed half of them. As I looked at the slides a second time in the microscope, the silence in the room was getting to me.

"So why don't you like blood?" I asked trying to start a conversation.

"Huh?" He asked surprised.

"You said earlier that if we had a lab with blood I have to do it. So I assume you don't like blood."

"Oh I like it just fine." He chuckled. What?

"Okay." I was unsure what to say to that. Why would he tell me I would have to do a lab with blood if it didn't bother him?

"Why don't you like blood?" He asked.

"The smell."

"What?"

"The smell makes me nauseous and dizzy."

"You can smell blood?" I nodded. "Interesting." We feel back into silence as I looked at the next slide.

"So how are you liking Forks High now that your first week is almost over?" He asked as I wrote down my answer and switched the slides.

"It's okay. Although I cannot wait until everyone stops staring at me."

"Ahh. I should be thanking you for that."

"For what?"

"Before you came along they all stared at me and my family." They had good reason to. They are all gorgeous.

"You know what you could do that thank me?" I said turning towards him and raising my eyebrows.

"What?" He arched one eyebrow skeptically awaiting my answer.

"Do something to get the attention back on you."

"What would you have me do streak during lunch?"

"Why is it that I say do something to get attention and your mind immediately thinks of something with nudity." I teased as I smiled.

"Hey, I am a good looking guy." He leaned back and flex his arms. "They wouldn't be able to take their eyes off of me if I was naked." I couldn't help but laugh. I hadn't like this in a long time. There was something so carefree about Emmett. He had a way of making you feel safe. As if with him everything was going to be alright.

The rest of the lab Emmett and I joked around, as I continued to get the answers wrong. But he was patient with me never calling me stupid or even huffing in annoyance. He would just point out the ones that were wrong, and tell me to try again. He was a fun person to be around. He made me feel like the old me. Like the person I was before the 'incident.' Outgoing, fun loving, risk taking, prankster me. I found myself wishing I could spend more time with him. I wanted to invite him over for dinner at Charlie's. I wanted to him to sit with me at lunch. I just wanted him around as much as possible.

But that couldn't happen. He would never really want to spend time with me. He is probably just doing this because he feels bad that I was in the hospital. If he really knew how broken and damaged I was he would run away. Lauren is right he deserved better than me.

After several failed tries, I finally got all the answers right and place them on the teachers desk.

"I promise I am not this stupid in every subject." I said as I packed my stuff.

"I would be bad at Biology to if I had not seen the information in two years. Give it sometime. You will catch up." We walked out of the classroom and out to the parking lot. Emmett walked me to my car, and even held the door open as I got in.

"Thank you again for your help. I would have been lost without you." I said.

"That's an understatement."

"Hey!" I said hitting him lightly in the chest with the back of my hand. He was solid and that shit hurt.

"I am kidding. And your welcome. Have a nice day Bella."

"You too." I said as he shut the door.

The drive home and the rest of the night was spent thinking about the man I wished I had but didn't deserve.


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks for the reviews and bday wishes. They really means a lot. They are my inspiration. So keep them coming and I promise to keep sending you previews. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters belong to SM. No copyright infringement intended **

_He was chasing after me, again. I turned that corner and I ran down the same hall that was lined with doors. I didn't even bother trying each one. I knew they would be locked. I ran to the door at the end of the hall, hoping to find another way out. I decide to give it a try just in case this was different from the last time. My heart was once again pounding, and my hands were trembling. _

_Damn it! The door was locked. _

_ "I don't know why you keep trying to run away. I told you, I will always find you. You are mine." He yelled. I saw his large form at the end of the hall. I knew he was going to tease me the whole time he slowly walked towards me knowing I was stuck. But this time was different. He broke out into a full sprint towards m, closing the distance between us in seconds. His hands immediately went to my throat, and slammed me against the door. My hands went to his wrists trying to pry him off of me. _

_ "Why do you insist on always making this hard for me? You know I am going to catch you everytime." He yelled slamming me into the wall once again. His grip was so tight, it was cutting off my air. _

_ This time I wasn't going to beg, and I wasn't going to cry. This man was psychotic, so begging would get me know where. I reached my hands for his face, trying to see if I could poke his eyes. But his arms where longer than mine, so all he had to do was pull his head back, and he was completely out of reach. _

_ "Ah, you wanna fight back this time." He said with an evil sneer on his face. He leaned in an whispered in my ear. "Your father tried to fight back." Traitorous tears began to well in my eyes. I couldn't let him know he was getting to me. _

_ "Telling me to leave his family alone. He even offered for me to just take him instead of you and your mother." At hearing about my father heroism, the tears began to fall. _

_ "I told him I was here to take all of you. But maybe depending on how I was feeling at the end of the night, I might decided to keep you for myself." He leaned back, laughed, and rake his eyes over my body. I had never felt more violated in all my life._

_ "Would you like that?" He asked as he removed one hand from my neck allowing me to breath and ran it up the side of my body from my hip to my breast. _

_ Oh no this is worse. He should just kill me. Please kill me. _

_ "Would you like to be my little play thing?" His smile grew more sinister the more he thought about it. His hand continued to rub back and forth on my side. "We could have so much fun together. Well I would be having fun, you would probably be begging me to stop. Which will only make it better, of course." I could feel myself begin to panic. He was talking about raping me and enjoying it._

_ "Do you want that? Do you want to be my little slave?" He let go of my neck and pushed his body against mine. "Can you feel what the thought of you is doing to me?" He thrust his hips into me, pushing his erection into my stomach._

_ I am going to throw up. I moved my hand to his shoulder trying to push him off, put it only fueled him further. _

_ "I promise I will put that mouth of your to good use. And I bet that pussy is so tight. And maybe I will even take you in the back. Would you like that?" He said punctuating each sentence with a thrust. I had to stop this. I had to make sure this didn't happen._

_ "No." I chocked out. "I would rather die."_

_ He pulled back and looked at me. _

_ "Your loss." He said nonchalantly as he backhanded me and my head once again slammed into the door. My vision was out of focus and my breathing was irregular. I felt him grab my neck again, pin me against the door, and lift me off of my feet. _

_ "Beg." He demanded. "Beg for me to save you." His grip on my neck tightened every second I said nothing. _

_ The all of the sudden the door the our right began to rattle. He loosened his grip on my neck, and turned towards the door. Suddenly the knob turned and the door swung open. _

_ There stood Emmett with menacing look on his face, his fist clenched, and his jaw set. I had never been more terrified of him. _

_ He stepped into the hallway and grabbed my attacker on the shoulder, hard. I heard the cracking of his collarbone as he released my neck. I immediately fell to the ground on my knees gasping for air. I looked up in time to set Emmett throw him down the hall and put himself between the two of us. _

_ "Go Bella." He said to me not taking his eyes off of my attacker._

_ "I can't leave you." He turned to face me and pointed to the door he just came from._

_ "Trust me. Go."_

_ I nodded my head, stood, and ran for the open door._

My eyes shoot open and I was laying in my bed. What the hell kind of dream was that? As I got out of bed, I looked at the clock and saw it was a little after six. Charlie is already gone.

I quickly showered careful of my healing arm, got dressed, and went downstairs. Kaiser was at the foot of the steps waiting on me. Shit, I forgot I have to take care if him too. I walked into the kitchen, and made myself a bowl of cereal. On the kitchen table was a list Charlie had written of emergency numbers and instructions of what has to be done for the weekend and how to take care of Kaiser. It wasn't really to bad, but Charlie must be really worried because everyone in the town's phone number is on the list. I have to let him know that he can trust me.

Once I was done eating, I grabbed my backpack and headed off towards school. I arrived about thirty minutes before class was to start, so I sat at one of the outside picnic tables and took out _Crime and Punishment. _Second times the charm, I thought as I opened the book. I decided to skip the part with the murder and just read the aftermath. I was completely immersed in the book, when I heard someone sit down next to me. Fearing it was Mike, I kept my eyes on the down hoping he would get the message to go away.

"Someone didn't do their reading for today." A smooth voice teased. I felt my heart accelerate, and a slight smile come to my face. I raised my eyes to find Emmett smirking down at me with a playful glint in his eyes.

"Guilty." I said as I smiled innocently towards him.

"Lucky for you there is no quiz today."

"Thank God." I laughed as I put the book down. English could wait, talking to Emmett is so much more entertaining.

"So what are your plans for this weekend?" He asked.

"I have to unpack. I have not even started. I have been living out of boxes all week."

"When did you move to Forks?"

"Sunday."

"Oh wow."

"Yea, I pretty much got here, and went straight to school. So now I have all weekend to unpack about ten boxes that are just sitting in my room. It gonna be a fun weekend for me." I said sarcastically.

"Maybe Charlie will help."

"Nope. Charlie is helping another police station all weekend, so he is out of town. It will be just me."

"Oh yea, Carlisle told me about that. Party at Bella's house." He said wiggling his eyebrows.

"I would have to be unpacked first, and people here would have to like me, which is not the case."

"I think people here like you more than you think."

"No they don't. Jessica only talks to me because she wants the latest gossip on the new kid. Mike is dead set on getting in my pants. Lauren will kill me the first chance she gets." I said giving him a look at said try to tell me I am wrong.

"Ok well that may be true. But maybe your just hanging around the wrong people."

"Oh really and who should I be hanging out with. You?"

"It would be a start. I won't kill you or spread gossip." I was about to point out that he left off getting into my pants, but the bell rang. So I picked up my book, slung my backpack over my shoulder, and stood.

"Hey." Emmett said standing with me. "If you need help unpacking give me a call."

"Really? You would give up part of your weekend to help me unpack." I said surprised. He leaned into me and tilted his head down so that he mouth was right by my ear.

"I have to find some way to show you you're hanging out with the wrong people." He whispered. Feeling him this close, put my senses on high. I became aware of every part of him. But the one part I couldn't stop thinking about was how close his mouth was to mine. All I would have to do is turn my head.

As this thought ran through my brain, Emmett leaned back.

"See you later, Bella." He said starring straight into my eyes before he turned off to walk to class. I stood there dumbfounded for another ten seconds before I ran off to class hoping I wouldn't be late.

Classes flew by, Jessica annoyed me, and I daydreamed. When lunch came, I once again sat quietly listening to the everyone gossip about the valentine's dance tomorrow.

"Are you okay?" I heard Angela ask me. I raised my head from my tray of food and turned to look at her.

"Yea why?"

"You have just been really quiet lately." She said concerned. Out of everyone at this table, Angela was the only genuine person.

"Yea I just have a lot on my mind you know moving to a new town and all." She nodded and didn't push for more information. Unfortunately Lauren did.

"Are you sure it is not because you have no one to go to the dance with?"

"Oh trust me I am sure. I have better things to do then go to a stupid school dance."

"That would be because no one asked you to go."

I was tempted to say that the only reason she was going with Mike was because of me, but I held my tongue. I just took a deep breath and shook my head. No need to make more enemies than I had. Maybe Emmett was right, I do need to hang out with a new crowd.

The thought of him put a smile on my face. I turned to look at his table, to see his talking and laughing with Jasper. His head was thrown back, and his dimples were out in full force. When he brought his head back his eyes met mine, and he gave me a small smile, which I returned.

"Bella." I heard Mike say. I turned to look at him. "you ready to go to class?" Damn didn't even hear the bell ring.

"Yea" I said as I stood and grabbed my tray.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the dance?" Mike asked as we walked ot Biology.

"Yea I am sure."

"We can always go as group of friends so you won't have to be alone." I was tempted to say that none of you are my friends. I was also tempted to tell him to shove it. But I didn't.

"No, you go have fun with Lauren." I said nodding my head and smiling to him.

"By the way, thanks for not telling Lauren I asked you first."

"I wouldn't do that. It would be mean."

"She would." He stated. He was right. She would. Lauren takes every chance she gets to tear someone down.

We walked into biology and sat in our seats. Emmett had not arrived yet, I just doodled in my notebook waiting for class to start.

"What are you drawing?" I heard Emmett ask as he took his seat next to me. I smiled at the thought of being near to him for the next hour.

"Nothing of importance." I said turning the page and trapping the notebook between my arm and the table so he could not grab it.

"Well, can I see?" He asked excitedly.

"No, I am a terrible artist."

"I doubt that."

"Just take my word for it." It was then that two things happened at once. Mr. Boyle stood up and announced it was time for class to begin, and Emmett somehow was able to the notebook from under my arm faster than I thought possible. He turned to see him flip the page and look over my drawing.

"You're right." He said shaking his head.

"What?"

"I should have taken your word for it. This is awful." He laughed as Mr. Boyle called attention to the class, put up slides, and began to lecture. We spent the rest of class taking notes about the parts of a cell. About halfway through my hand began to throb and my writing was getting sloppy.

"Stop writing if your hand hurts." Emmett said as he leaned over and whispered so the teacher wouldn't hear. "You can just copy mine later."

"Thank you."

By the time class ended my hand had stopped throbbing and Emmett had probably taken ten pages of notes.

"You didn't have to be so through." I said packing up my bag at the end of class.

"Yes, I did. You suck at Biology. I have to help anyway I can."

"Ha Ha ha" I said laughing sarcastically. "and for your information I only suck at labs. I am great test taker."

"Lucky me." He chuckled.

"I guess I will see you in gym." I said as I turned to walk out of the classroom.

"No you won't."

"Why?" I said panicked as I turned back to face him. Damn I am getting too attached to him, I thought.

"My family and I are going home right after this class. There is a big storm coming in tonight, and my mother wants us home."

"Oh well, I guess I will see you Monday." I said trying to hide my sadness.

"Unless you call me to help with your unpacking." He said wiggling his eyebrows.

"I wouldn't joke about it. I may take you up on that offer, and there will be a lot of heavy lifting."

"What do you think the guns are for?" He said pointing to his arms. "You have my number right?" He asked as we turned to walk out of the classroom.

"Charlie gave me a whole list of number for the weekend including your house number, and I have Alice's cell."

"Ok well that will do for now, because everyone is waiting for me at the cars, but remind me to give you my cell when I see you this weekend." I wasn't a question of if I see you. It was as if he knew it was going to happen. Like if I didn't call him, he would just show up at my door step.

"Okay."

"I will see you later Bella." He said as he turned and walked away from me.

The rest of school was boring. By the end of history my hand was throbbing once again, and in gym I just sat on the bleachers and watched everyone else play dodgeball.

When I made it back home the house was quiet except for Kaiser who was pacing the floor. Knowing Charlie had not been home on his lunch break to take him out, I grabbed his leash and took him for a short walk around the block. I enjoyed the rare rays of sunshine as Kaiser led me around the town to do his business. But by the time made it home, the sun was gone and the storm clouds where moving in.

I quickly made myself a sandwich for dinner, fed Kaiser, and watched TV as I ate. Once I had cleaned my plate, I looked at the list of things Charlie needed done this weekend and noticed that tomorrow was garbage day. So I compiled all of the trash bags that where in the house and went to take them outside to the curb. When I open the front door, Kaiser ran out into the woods.

"Shit!" I said as I started to go after him. But he was too fast. I thought about just letting him go, but realized that I would have to explain to Charlie why his dog is gone. I have to find him, I thought.

Seeing how dark it was, I grabbed a flashlight, a light sweater, and put on my rain boots. I closed the front door, and began to walk in the direction which that dumb dog ran calling his name each step of the way. About ten minutes in, I realized that I had no idea was I was.

"Great. This is just great." I said to myself. "Could this get any worse?"

As if on cue, thunder rumbled in the sky. It definitely get worse.

"Kaiser! Kaiser!" I yelled walking deeper into the forest. By this time it was completely dark, the only light was coming from the one on my hand. The temperature began to drop, and I could feel my jaw begin to shake. I was freezing and it hadn't even started raining yet. The wind was blowing my long hair everywhere. This storm was going to be bad, I thought.

I started walking faster hoping to catch up with him. After about thirty minutes rain began to fall. The only good news was that the trees where blocking me from most of it. I thought about turning around and going home, but I didn't even know where that was. My best bet was to find Kaiser, and hope he takes me there.

About ten minutes later, I was soaked and had given up on finding him. I was about to turn back, when I saw a four legged figure infront of me. I took off in a full sprint thinking that is was Kaiser. As I got closer, the figure got bigger. Way to big to be a household dog.

Realizing I may be dealing with a wild animal that may want to eat me, I stopped about ten feet away from it. Not turning my back towards it, I took at step backwards away from the beast, but as I did so I growled.

I am so screwed.

**I know I know I left you with a cliffy, but review and I will send you a preview of what will happen next. And trust me it is intense. **


	8. Chapter 8

**WOW guys thanks for the reviews. They are really my inspiration, and given that fact that I had had a little writers block recently, they have really been helping so keep them coming. **

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(Bpov)

I stood stalk still, hoping that maybe it would go away. My hands where trembling. My heart was erratic. I was soaking wet from the rain, that due to my bad luck tonight has yet to let up, and I was freezing.

I looked around trying to see an escape from this mess. Given that I didn't know where I was, anywhere was better than here. I looked back at the animal standing in front of me. Maybe I could fight it off, or scare it away. They always say make loud noises and look bigger when you run into a cougar. Same thing right.

But as I looked over it's body, I knew it was impossible. Nothing could scare this thing. It had all the qualities of a wolf, but it was about 4 times the size. I am screwed.

I watched as mist left it nostrils. I had to run. I had to try.

I turned as quickly as I could, and took off in the opposite direction. I heard the wolf growl behind me, but I refused to turn around. I had made it maybe five feet, when another russet wolf popped of in front of me. I stopped as quickly as I could, trying not to get to close. I turned back to look at the black one to make sure it didn't move. Luckily for me he stayed in place. I took a few tentative steps backwards trying to get equidistant from each animal. As I turned back to look at the russet one, a gray one appeared at my right. It was then that I noticed that the black wolf was not the only one here. It was just the one that decided to show itself. I was then I knew that I was completely surrounded.

Wolves hunt in packs, I thought.

My breathing began to become ragged, and my heart was pounding out of my chest. I was trapped. There was no way to escape this. This was how I was going to die. My vision began to bur as tears came to my eyes. Unable to control them, they spilled over. My shaky hand automatically reached up and began to wipe them away. I had to get control of myself.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. When I opened them, I tried to think of everything I had every learned about wolves. But the only thing that was coming to mind was they hunt in packs. Why didn't I pay more attention in school? The wind was getting stronger, whipping my hair against my face.

The wolves began to step forwards, slowly closing in around me. I turned in a circle, looking for an escape once again, but with six wolves here, there were no gaps.

I felt claustrophobic as if the walls where closing in on me, but these walls would eat me. My heart was beating impossibly fast. It was all I could hear. I felt like it was going to break out of my chest. I closed my eyes knowing that this was the end, but they shot open at the sound of a louder growl coming from my right. Theres more is more than six, I thought.

As I took a deep breath to prepare for the onslaught that was about to come, I felt something wrap around my waist pulling me. My eyes quickly shot open. I looked down to see a small arm wrapped around me. I peered over my shoulder to see Alice, looking at the wolves in front of me. How did she get her?

I followed her line of sight. Jasper and Emmett where crouched down in front of us keeping themselves between us and the wolves. Somehow during this turn of events, all the wolves had lined up to face us. The black wolf turned around and began to walk away, but the others did not follow. It walked deep into the woods until it was out of sight. Then a Native American man walked back towards us from the direction the wolf left. Both Jasper and Emmett stood, but their stance never relaxed. I could tell from Emmett's back that his muscle were tense. He was prepared to pounce at any minute.

"It seems you need a reminder of the treaty, bloodsucker!" The man yelled as he walked towards us. The wolves parted to create a pathway for him which quickly closed as he passes them. Why aren't they attacking him, I thought.

"You're the one who broke it." Emmett said in a deep menacing voice. This was not the man I knew. The Emmett I knew was always smiling or making joke. The man has been taking almost every chance he can get to poke fun at me lately. But the Emmett infront of me was none of those things. He was a beast, an animal.

"Let's just all go our separate ways. There is no reason for there to be a fight tonight Sam." Jasper said calmly trying to diffuse the situation.

"No reason for a fight. Your scent is all over her!" Sam yelled as he pointed to me. Alice grip tightened on my waist, as if she was trying keep me with her when he yelled, causing me to cry out in pain. Emmett turned back quickly to look at us. His eyes were black and his face was terrifying. I quickly turned my head away, afraid to look at him.

"See you are already hurting her!" Sam yelled. "You will kill her! She is better off leaving here with us."

"Touch her and you will have more than a fight on you hands, you stupid fucking mutt." Emmett growled turning back to Sam.

"Is that a threat?" He asked.

"It's a promise." The wolves growled in response to Emmett's jab.

"Why are you here Sam?" Jasper asked.

"We followed your scent," He said looking at Jasper. "Wondering what you where doing to close to town this late at night, it led us straight to her." He finished tilting his head towards me.

"Well now that you know everything is fine, maybe you should leave." Jasper calmly stated. I almost started nodding my head in agreement.

"It is against our nature to leave her with you."

"I thought a dogs nature was to chase cars." Emmett said.

"At least it isn't in my nature to kill people." Sam quipped. What? What is he talking about? I look back at Alice over my shoulder. She simply shook her head.

"Not now." She whisper.

"She doesn't know?" Sam said incredulously at Emmett and Jasper. Then he looked straight at me as he asked "Do you know what they are?"

Both Emmett and Jasper turned to look at me. The anger had slightly dissipated from their eyes, but their stance was still tense. I looked back at them unsure, searching for the correct answer to get me out of this. I turned to look at back at Alice who actually looked sorry for me. What is going on?

"Let's try this, What's your name?" Sam said softer, trying to sound welcoming. Yea, there is no way that would happen. I am pretty sure he was a wolf that ten minutes ago that I thought was going to eat me. Nothing welcoming about that. But I had to get out of here, and it seemed as though I either left with them or the Cullens. And if I had to chose, it would be the Cullens. I may not know what they are, but they have never given me a reason to not trust them and in this situation they are my only way out.

I looked back at the man called Sam and cleared my throat.

"My name is Isabella Swan." I didn't sound as sure as I would have liked. My voice was high pitched and shaky. Definitely not the assertive I was going for. Sam turned back to Emmett and Jasper wide eyed

"The Chiefs new niece!" He yelled and the wolves growled. I flinched at the sound of his voice and tears began to spill over my eyes. He looked back at me. "You need to stay away from them. Come with us, we will take you home."

I gripped at Alice hoping she would not let me go. Emmett stepped infront of Sam's line of sight block me from his view.

"She is not going anywhere with you." He stated as if it was final.

"We will protect her." Sam defended.

"Like you protected you fiance." Sam began to physically shake at Emmett's response. "She is leaving with us."

Sam took several deep breaths, and the shaking stopped.

"What are you going to do when you control wavers?" Sam asked Emmett the venom back into his voice.

"What if she pisses you off? You have already proven you can lose control at any moment." Emmett said not backing down. The situation was escalating.

"You have no idea what you are talking about."

"I could say the same to you." Emmett said through clenched teeth.

"You're going to kill her. We are going to find her missing in a matter of days because you got a little hungry."

"Not going to happen."

"Why not? What makes you think you can stop yourself? Or any other member of your family for that matter. I hear she is pretty damn clumsy, what if she falls and scraps her knee. What are you going to do then?"

"Why don't you let me worry about that." Emmett said.

"Yea right." Sam said laughing. "Isabella, come on we are taking you home." He waved for me to walk towards him.

"Are you fucking stupid?" Emmett yelled. "How many times do I have to tell you she is not going anywhere with you?"

"Don't ever call me stupid, leech." Sam said staring at Emmett.

"Ok calm down." Jasper said.

"Don't use you voodoo shit on me." Sam said to Jasper. "You can't control me."

This is getting bad. Every one of my instincts were telling me to get out of there, but Alice's grip was so tight. I began to claw at her arms, internally begging her to let me go as the boys continued to argue.

"Alice please." I whispered.

"Bella what do you want me to do? It is not safe for you to go anywhere right now."

"We have to stop them." I pleaded.

"Let them handle it." She said.

"They are going to fight."

"You won't be able to stop them. If they fight, I have to get you out of here."

"They cannot fight over me. What if they get hurt Alice? What if Emmett or Jasper get hurt? It would be all my fault. Please you have to let me try." Alice turned my body completely towards her, and looked into my eyes.

"You really think you can do this?" She asked.

"Yes" I said.

"Emmett is going to kill me, I can't see how this is going to work out." She said. "Okay we walk over there together. Stay close to me. You understand? Don't leave my side."

"Okay." Alice released her grip on my waist and we slowly walked towards Sam, Jasper, and Emmett who where now yelling at each other.

"I should rip your head off." Sam yelled.

"I would like to see you try." Emmett yelled back.

"Do I get any say?" I asked when Alice and I were about a foot behind Emmett and Jasper. The both turned to look at me. Jasper looked surprised. Emmett looked pissed, and thank God he wasn't looking at me. He was looking straight at Alice. Either way, I felt my confidence begin to waiver. This may have been a bad idea. But as quickly as I felt it leave me, it returned. I took a deep breath, before I continued.

"You guys are taking about me as if I am not here. And it seems as though there is a high chance that either of you will kill me, so shouldn't I get to choose."

I looked at both Sam's and Emmett's faces waiting for them to acknowledge my comment. Sam was the first to nod. Emmett just stared.

"Emmett?" I questioned wanting his response.

"Fine." He said. His voice was rough and shaky as if he was trying to control his anger. I looked back and forth between the two of them and turn my body completely towards Emmett and looked him in the eye.

"Take home please." My voice cracked and tears began to spill down my cheeks as I begged him to get me out of here. He nodded his head and put his hand on the small of my back leading me away.

"Bella" I heard Sam call. Emmett growled as I turned around to face him. "Charlie left a number for Billy Black for you for this weekend right?" I nodded my head yes wondering how he knew that. "Call it if you have any problems."

"Okay." I said as I turned around with Emmett keeping himself between me and danger.

**Well there yo have it. It was the wolves. Some of you guessed that one. So leave a review and I will give you a preview of the next chapter, which is in Emmett's pov. **


	9. Chapter 9

** Thank you for the reviews. They continue to inspire me. I am in the middle of writing Ch. 12 if you want to know how much they are helping, so keep them coming. Also I just started a Community called Best of the Bear, which is a collection of well written stories about Emmett, so if you have time check it out. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, but the plot. The characters belong to SM. No copyright infringement intended. **

(Empov)

I placed myself between Bella and the fucking mutts for the walk back. I could feel the anger coursing through me. It was taking everything I had not to turn around and rip them apart. The only thing keeping me from going to kill them was Bella. The look of fear and uncertainty on her face when she looked at me to help her answer Sam's questions will haunt me for the rest of my existence. The sound of her voice cracking as she asked me to take her home, and the erratic beat of her heart were two of the worst things I have ever heard.

I had never been more terrified and pissed off in my life than I was when Alice ran into my bedroom with Jasper hot on her heels to tell me that Bella's future just disappeared, and the last she had seen of her was out looking for her dog. We all knew that that meant two things, either Bella was dead, or wolves. As much as I hated the wolves, I was hoping it was them. The thought of Bella being dead was too much to bear. The three of us ran to her house, and followed her scent into the woods. My instinct to protect took over as I saw her surrounded by the mangy mutts. Alice took to keeping Bella safe as Jasper and I went on the defensive.

When I saw Sam transform back into his human form, I knew we were going to have to tell Bella everything. Those stupid dogs tried to blame us for breaking the treaty, but they were the ones who exposed everything and now we have to deal with the consequences.

About ten minutes into the walk I heard the wolves begin to run in the opposite direction, I don't know what they were waiting for but I am glad they left. It was then that I began to relax knowing that the danger was behind us and Bella was safe. I took in her appearance and inwardly cringed. She was soaking wet from head to toe. Her jaw was shaking from the cold and her hands were trembling. I didn't know if that was from the weather or fear. The wind was whipping her wet hair against her face, and and the moon was illuminating her tears. I looked down at my clothes to see if I could give her my jacket, but I wasn't much better off. The only difference was the cold didn't effect me and I couldn't cry.

"Bella, are you okay?" I asked needing to hear it from her, but she didn't acknowledge my question at all. She just kept walking.

"She is too shocked to speak." Jasper said probably feeling my disappointment.

Of course she is too shocked to speak, he just found out that the things nightmares where made of were true. Add this on top of the fact that she watched her parents be killed, this could be to much for her. My anger was growing again. I want to kill the wolves for putting her through this, but Carlisle would not be pleased. The urge to hit something grew.

"Don't punch a tree Emmett." Alice said quietly. "You will only scare her more."

At hearing Alice's voice, I realized how pissed I am at her.

"How could you have let her go?" I asked her.

"She begged me too, Emmett. She said she couldn't let you guys fight because of her."

"Yea well, you should have ignored her. You and I both know that you could not see how that was going to work out." I hissed.

"She was afraid that you would get hurt."

"I don't care. What if something happened, Alice?"

"But it didn't. You can't make all of her decision for her." Jasper said.

"Jasper, don't think I didn't feel that boost of confidence you gave her." I said to him.

"She needed it, hers was beginning to fall. If she was to succeed in what she was trying to do she needed to sound sure of herself, even though she wasn't."

"Emmett I did everything I could to make sure she was safe, but everything was getting out of hand, and you guys were talking about her like she couldn't make a decision for herself." Alice defended.

I was so involved in our quiet argument, that I didn't see that Bella had slipped. I reached my arms out to grab hers and pulled her upright before she could hit the ground. When I let go of her she mumbled a quick thank you and kept walking.

"We'll talk about this later." I said to Alice and Jasper as I kept my eyes on Bella. I wouldn't let her get hurt again.

When we arrived back at Bella's house we walked into the back door, which was unlocked I am going to have to talk to her about that, and into the kitchen.

"Let's get you out of these wet clothes before you catch a cold." Alice said to Bella who only nodded her head in response. She walked up the stairs and Alice followed behind her. Jasper and I sat at the kitchen table, when we heard the shower start and I put my head in my hands.

"This is a mess." I said.

"Yea, that was a close call." I growled at memory of what happened tonight.

"What were they thinking? What was the point of them scaring her like that?" I asked looking at him.

"Maybe they wanted to show her we were dangerous. I dunno."

"What am I going to do?" I asked.

"Not sure, but we should call Carlisle to let him know what happened, because he may be getting a phone call from the reservation tomorrow."

I pulled out my phone and dialed the home number, knowing that Carlisle was home. By the second ring, someone answered.

"Emmett where are you?" Rosalie greeted. Damn Caller ID.

"Put Carlisle on the phone." I said ignoring her.

"Are you watching you that girl sleep again? When is this going to stop?"

"Rosalie, I don't have time for your fucking bullshit right now, put Carlisle on the phone."

I heard some shuffling then Carlisle voice.

"Emmett, what wrong?" He asked. I put my cell on speakerphone and Jasper and I filled him in on the events of the night.

"First of all is Bella okay?" He asked.

"Physically." Jasper said. "Emotionally she is everywhere."

"That's to be expected." Carlisle said. "She just went through an extremely traumatic event." He took a deep breath before he continued. "I will call Sam later tonight. This never should have happened"

"Good someone needs to put them in their place." I said.

"Emmett let me handle this." Carlisle said. "I wish you guys would have told me when you where going to look for Bella."

"Well we where kind of in a hurry." I said.

"I get it. Anyways, keep an eye on her. If she was out in this rain as long as you say she was, she might catch a cold. Emmett I assume you are going to stay and watch her."

"Yea." I said.

"Good let me know if her health starts to go south. If so tomorrow I will take a look at her."

"Thanks."

"No need to thank me son. But Emmett?" He asked.

"Yes."

"I suggest you tell her everything."

"You really think that is a good idea." Jasper said.

"She has seen to much for us to lie to her." I said.

"Right, so I am going to call Sam. I will talk to you guys later." We told Carlisle good bye and hung up.

"I do not want to be you right now." Jasper laughed.

"Me either."

"How are you going to tell her?"

"I have no idea. Maybe I should just come right I out and say it." I said looking at him. He just shook his head.

"No I think you need a disclaimer first like 'I will no kill you.'"

"Oh yea, I guess your right." I said. "Do you think she will run away?"

"Hard to tell. I mean she knows we are different, Sam wouldn't let her forget that, but she choose to go home with us anyway. So that shows some trust, but her instinct is going to tell her to run. It depends on which one she listens to."

"I was hoping she would have gotten to know me a little better before we got to this point." I said

"Nothing ever goes as planned." Jasper said as we both looked towards the stairs as Alice came down.

"How is she doing?" I asked wanted any update as to how Bella is handling everything.

"I dunno. She was quiet the whole time." She said sitting on Jasper lap. "So your going to tell her."

"Yea can you see how that is going to go?" I asked so I could prepare.

"No, I only see you telling her, not her reaction. Sorry."

"Whats the point of you seeing the future if you can't help me out." I said.

"Some things you have to do on your own."

Ten minutes later Jasper and Alice were wishing me good luck, as the left to go home. I stood at the bottom of stairs looking up at Bella's door. I heard her steady heart beat as I climbed them. When I made it to her door, I gently knocked and opened it.

"May I come in?" I asked. She was standing looking out the window. The light from the moon was shining on her face and hair, giving her a angelic look. She was beautiful.

"Did Alice and Jasper leave?" She asked.

"Yes." I said as I walked up next to her.

"Do you think they are out there?" She asked staring out the window.

"Who?"

"The wolves." Then it all fell into place. She was scared they were going to come after her. I wanted to hold her. I wanted to kiss the fear away from her face. I wanted to make her smile again. But before we got to that part, we had to talk.

"We have to talk." I said to her as I turned and sat on the edge of the bed. I patted the spot next to me. I took a deep breath as she sat down. I turned to look at her, staring into her eyes for a second, knowing that if this doesn't go well this will be the last time I do it.

"Before I say anything else, you have to know that I would never hurt you, and neither would my family." She nodded her head, and waited for me to continue.

"My family and I are different. Everything you have heard about was a lie. We are not adopted and none of us are even related. It is a lie we tell all the time so that no one gets suspicious." I took a deep breath before I said one of the most important sentences in my life.

"We're vampires."

I looked at Bella's face to see how she was taking the news. But it was blank. I saw no fear, no happiness, nothing. This may not go as well as I hoped.

**All right there it is. Sorry it is a little short but this seemed like the best place to stop. But if you leave a review you will get a preview of how Bella is taking the news! So hit that button and let me know what you think.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks again for all the reviews. Kept them coming. Also I am going on a trip this weekend, so I may or may not update till Sunday. It depends on the internet connection. But no worries you will still get you preview for each review even if I have to find a Starbucks (which shouldn't be hard in LA). **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters belong to SM. No copy right infringement intended **

**(Bpov)**

I ran over what Emmett had just said in my mind. _We are vampires. We are vampires. We are vampires. _Everytime I heard that sentence, I got the same response.

Nothing.

I felt nothing. I wasn't scared. I wasn't happy. I wasn't even content. I just felt nothing. But I looked into his eyes and saw everything. I saw the boy that I had gotten to know the past five days. The boy who made me laugh on my darkest days. I saw the beast that had protected me when I thought I lost all hope. I saw him for everything he was. Boy. Beast. Monster. Man. And I didn't care.

After everything that I had been through, watching my parents die, the trial, moving to a new town, making new friends, I had never felt happier and safer than when I was with him or his family. I felt as though I could tell them anything. Alice had seen me at my worst in bathroom at school. Emmett saw me laying on a hospital bed. And Jasper, well he doesn't really say much, but he is always there and never judges me. They all seemed to be there when I was at my lowest, and yet they are still around. You can't ignore that.

As I looked at Emmett, uncertainty was written all over his face. It was easy to see that he was afraid that I was going to run. Run away from him. Little did he know I just couldn't do that. I had come to rely on him more than anyone. I don't know why, but he was the one person I trusted with my life here.

Realizing I hadn't spoken for a couple minutes, I knew I had to say something, but what could I say. How do you tell someone that you just don't care? I open my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I closed it quickly and tried to gather my thoughts. Say something, anything I told myself. But my mind was blank. I watch as Emmett's face fall expecting the worst. I had to stop this. He wasn't meant to look like this. He should always have a smile on his face bringing out his dimples full force. So I just opened my mouth and said the first thing that came to mind.

"Okay." His eyes widened and his mouth hung slack. I guess that was not the response he was looking for.

"Okay?" He asked incredulously.

"Yea, okay." I said shrugging my shoulders. "Emmett, I have had to many bad things happen in my life to worry about the dumb ones. You and your family have never given me a reason not to trust you, and I am pretty sure you saved my life tonight. But I do have to questions."

"That's understandable, and I will answer them honestly. No more lies from here on out." He said nodding. "But before you ask anything, please know that I will do everything in my power to keep you safe, I care about too much about you let anything else happen."

I stored the idea of him caring about me for later in the questioning. First the basics had to be dealt with.

"Ok" I said raising my leg on to the bed and turning towards him. He mirrored him stance with a smile on his face, eager to answer my questions. "So if you are a vampire you drink blood right?"

"Yes." He nodded. "But before you let your imagination run wild you have to know that my family and I are different than others of our kind. We do not drink the blood of humans."

"Well what do you drink then?" I asked confused.

"We drink the blood of animals. We consider ourselves vegetarians." He chuckled as if laughing at his own joke.

"Why?" I said quickly.

"Why what?"

"Why do you only drink animal and not humans?" He eyes grew wide as if shocked by my question. "Don't get me wrong, I am happy that you do. But why do you deny what you are?"

"Carlisle. He believes that we cannot lose our touch with humanity. And to be honest even though we are dead we still have a conscience. I have accidentally killed some people in my early years. It eats away at you." I nodded my head in understanding. I had watched people die, I didn't even do it, and it was eating away at me.

"How old are you?"

"If anyone asks you, I am 17. But I was born in 1915 in Tennessee."

"How did you become a vampire?" I asked curiously. He looked down into his lap and took a deep breath. I could feel his reluctance to answer to question, so I decided to give him an out. "You don't have to answer that if it is to hard."

"No, no it's not that. It is just that human memories are hard to recall. They seem...blurry. Um... I was camping with my brothers, when I went to get some fire wood. I some how ended up getting between a mother bear and her cubs. She attacked me." He took a deep breath before he continued. "I was found by Rose and Esme, my mother. They took me back to Carlisle and he changed me."

"Changed you?"

"Yea, when we bite a person or animal we inject a venom. It puts them in so much pain they are unable to move. If a person is only bit, but not drained. In three days they will be one of us."

"So Carlisle bit you?" He nodded his head slightly smiling. It was then that I noticed that he was different than the vampires we see on TV or read about in books.

"Why don't you have fangs?" I asked seriously. Apparently Emmett did not think I was, because he was laughing so hard I thought he was going to fall off the bed. When he finally pulled himself together, he sat up on the bed, cleared he throat, and spoke.

"The only vampires that have fangs are the ones you see in the media. We don't need them. Trust me, our teeth our sharp enough."

"Well what about the sunlight? I thought causes vampires to ignite?" He chuckled obviously trying to hold in a bigger laugh. "Stop laughing the myths are all I have to go on." I finished smiling hoping he would see that I wasn't mad at him.

"Okay okay." He said pulling himself together. "All of the myths you have heard are to make humans believe they have a chance against us. Most of it isn't true. Garlic, Holy water, Crosses, Stakes through the heart, none of that stuff works. We can go out into the sunlight, but we don't because we would draw attention to ourselves."

"How so?"

"We kind of shimmer in the sun light."

"Shimmer?" I asked trying to suppress my laughter.

"Yea it really embarrassing."

"I bet." I said giggling.

"I am glad you find it so funny." He said nudging me with his shoulder.

"How could you not? Your supposed to be this big bad vampire but you shimmer in the sunlight."

"Trust me I am still a big bad vamp." He said puffing out his chest.

"Oh I believe you." I said drinking him in. There was nothing about him that said he was anything less. His size alone told you that. And after I had seen the animal inside him tonight, I would never doubt that. But I still couldn't help but see Emmett as the boy who goes to Forks High when I looked at him. The boy who makes me laugh. The boy that I can't help watching as he walks away. The boy that I am trying to suppress the crush I have on.

"So about what happened tonight, how did you know I was in trouble?" I asked scooting up on the bed so that my back was against the head board. I patted the spot next to me, silently telling Emmett to scoot up as well. A smile spread across his face before he climbed up the bed and sat next to me.

"Alice said your future disappeared."

"Say what?" I said confused.

"When someone is turned into a vampire, they bring with them strong attributes from their human life. Alice when she was human had visions, I guess you could say. When she became a vampire, she could see parts of the future."

"So she saw me in trouble?" I asked still unsure as to how they knew where I was.

"No, she saw you looking in the woods for something, then all the sudden your future disappeared. Which means two things, you were dead, or wolves. So Jasper, Alice and I ran to your house, and followed your scent into the woods."

"You _ran_ to my house and _followed_ my scent." I said incredulously raising my eyebrows. What the hell is he talking about? He laughed at my outburst.

"Beside the unique abilities every vampire has, we all are super fast, super strong, and have super hearing and smell."

"Can you run faster than I speeding bullet?" I joked. His laughter filled the room.

"I never tried."

"Anyways. How come Alice can't see the wolves?"

"Since you brought up superman, the wolves are like our Lex Luther, or kryptonite. They are a vampires natural enemy. They all live on the reservation."

"So they are werewolves?"

"Yea, but they don't need a full moon to transform."

"So" I said quietly afraid of the answer to my next question. "why did they attack me?" I looked down watching my hands twist together in my lap.

"To be honest, I dunno." He said quietly. I watched his hand come into my line of sight and grab mine. I felt the same electric shock I felt yesterday at his contact. This time I relished it. It felt as if my skin was on fire and the coolness of his was the only way to calm it. I became hyper aware oh him. Emmett squeezed my hand tighter and brought his other hand to my chin forcing me to look at him.

"Stop worrying Bella." He said. "I said I would take care of you and I will. You have nothing to be afraid of. I won't let anything happen to you." I nodded.

"It is still scary that someone is after you that you can't protect yourself from." I whispered.

"My family will protect you from them. And I don't think the wolves hate you, I think they made a bad judgement call." He said releasing my chin and hands. I had to hold back a whimper at the loss of contact. I would give anything for him to touch me like that again.

"Do you think they would try to hurt me?"

"I don't know. Young werewolves are ruled by there emotions, if they got angry enough they are capable of hurting there own family members." I nodded accepting that was basically a yes to my question. "Please stop worrying Bella. I can hear your heart beating faster, just relax. I promise I won't let anything happen to you. You're safe."

I had no choice but to accept this fact, but the idea of something being in my life that I cannot protect myself from terrified me. But Emmett had already shown that he be there in the times when I could not protect myself. I felt my mouth involuntarily open as a yawn escaped. Emmett chuckled.

"Go to bed." He said standing. "I will come back in the morning." He finished walking towards. As Emmett started walking away, I cold feel my anxiety rise. After every thing I had been through tonight, the thought of being alone in this house petrified me. And after my dream this morning, Emmett's presence not only comforted me, but made me feel safe from my dreams and reality.

"Emmett." I said as he reached the door. He turned and faced me with a smile on his face.

"Yea."

"Do you think that maybe you could stay the night?" I asked hesitantly. "I mean you could on the couch down stairs or if you want a bed you could have mine and I could sleep on the couch. I just don't wanna be alone right now." I was rambling. A smile spread across Emmett's face as I spoke.

"You're cute your flustered." He said. I felt the blood creep to my face and my eyes widen in shock. "I'll stay. To be honest I wasn't going anywhere. I was going to watch your house from outside."

"Where were you going to sleep?"

"Vampire's don't sleep."

"Oh." I said as I yawned for a second time.

"Go to sleep Bella. I will be downstairs if you need me." He said as he turned as walked out of the room. I pulled the covers back and tucked myself into the bed.

**(Empov)**

As I walked down the stairs, I couldn't suppress the smile on my face. I had told Bella everything and she didn't care. She didn't care that I was a monster. A beast from her worst nightmares. She didn't care.

I felt my phone vibrate as I walked into the living room and sat on the couch. I heard Bella's heartbeat even out as I pulled out my blackberry. She was asleep. I looked at the screen: Alice.

"Yea." I said as I pick it up.

"Oh my gosh! That went better than I thought!" She screamed. I could hear Jasper in the back round trying to calm her down. Yea good luck with that one.

"Me too. She didn't even seem to care." I responded. "Maybe she is shock." As the words left my mouth, I felt fear that they may be true. She had had so much happen to her today, that maybe she was just on information overload. What if in the morning after she had had time to process it, she doesn't want me around.

"She and I are going to be best friends, Em. I have already seen it." She squealed.

"Okay." I knew never to doubt Alice, so I just agreed with her. "Well I am going to go now." I said quickly hanging up before she had time to reply. Sometimes Alice was to much to handle.

I turned on the TV, and switch to _ESPN_. As I was watching _S__portscenter, _my mind began to wander. The very thought of the wolves, terrified Bella. I want to kill them just for scaring her. She was never meant to find out this way.

I was broken out of my train of thought by a moan coming from upstairs, and it wasn't the good kind. It wasn't the kind I want to hear come out of my Bella's mouth.

"No." I heard Bella mumble. Her heart was beginning to accelerate ,and I could smell salt in the air, which meant she was either sweating or crying. Neither one was good.

"Please stop." At hearing her plea I was already on my feet, but would I be over stepping my bounds if I went up their. She knows I am here, but that doesn't give me permission to invade her privacy.

You have already invaded her privacy you idiot, my inner voice told me, all the times you watched her sleep.

"No." She was getting louder, and my resolve to stay downstairs was weening. My phone vibrated on the table. A text from Alice.

_Go to her._

I was up the stairs at vampire speed, slowing opening the door to he bedroom, as soon as I read it. Bella was tangled in her covers, rolling back and forth on the bed, repeatedly mumbling no. I was unsure if I should wake her up or just try to comfort her in her sleep.

"Your hurting me." She said quietly as her brow crinkled. If I woke her up she may not be able to fall asleep again, and after her day she needs it. But I don't know if I could get her to call down in her sleep.

"Emmett." At hearing my name fall from her, l wonder if the dream was about me. Was her nightmare about me? "I can't leave you. He'll kill you." This statement had me rushing towards her bed. I don't know what she was dreaming, but I know it was of someone hurting me. I gathered her in my arms and rocked her back and forth.

"Shh." I soothed in her ear. "Your okay. I am okay. Your safe." I calmly said over and over. Her heart began to slow, and the thrashing ceased at my touch. I spent the rest of the night listening to her heart, taking in her scent, and protecting her from herself.

**So what do you think about how Bella took the news? And how cute is Emmett? Let me know and I promise to reply with a preview, because after this Bella has some explaining to do. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys. Sorry for the delay. I know I said I would update yesterday, but my plane was so delayed that by the time I got home it was 3 am. Not the best time to do my final editing after a full day of travel. But anyways here it is, and I know that this is a chapter that a lot of you have been waiting for. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters belong to SM. Also I cannot take complete credit from Bella's story, inspiration came from several movies. No copyright infringement intended. **

(Bpov)

I woke up feeling well rested and rejuvenated. I laid with my eyes closed for awhile relishing in the fact that last night I had not had a nightmare. I had slept soundly for the first time in months. As I began to come out of my sleepy haze, I noticed that I was laying on something other than my pillow. Something hard. It was then that the nights events came back to me. Looking for Kaiser. Being surrounded by werewolves. Emmett, Alice and Jasper saving me. Finding out Emmett's family were vampires. Asking Emmett to stay the night. Oh gosh, so embarrassing.

I quickly sat up and opened my eyes, only to find Emmett siting on the bed next to me where I was once laying. I was on top on him, I thought. This is more embarrassing than I thought. Emmett gave a slight chuckle as he looked at my face, which let me know that I must not be looking my best. I did go to bed with wet hair. I raised my hands and smoothed them over my knotted hair.

"Are you always this flustered when you wake up?" He chuckled as he put both hands behind his head. I was too distracted to answer, the position he way laying in emphasized the bulge of his biceps. I ran my eyes from his shoulders all the way to his wrist behind his head looking at every contour of his arms. Cherishing the rise and fall of each muscle. My the time my eyes reached his face, he had an all knowing smirk across it. I felt the blood rush to my cheeks at the realization that I had been caught.

Get yourself together, I said in my head. Don't let him see how he effects you.

"Why are you here?" I asked deciding to ignore his question.

"You asked me stay." He said smiling. "You really aren't at your best this morning."

"No thats not what I meant. What are you doing in my room?" He moved his arms from behind his head and sat up. Thinking he was going to leave, I put my hand on his arm. "Not that I mind, but I thought you were staying downstairs. Did something happen last night?" The thought of the wolves coming to my house had me on high alert.

"Hey, it's ok. Relax, your heart is going a mile a minute. The wolves were not here." He said wrapping his arms around me, rubbing his hands on my back trying to comfort me. I turned my face towards his chest and buried myself within it returning the hug by wrapping my arms around him. I took a deep breath. He even smell good early in the morning.

"Then why did you come up here?" I asked into his chest. He pulled back a little so he could look down at me. There was a seriousness in his eyes as he took a deep breath.

"Bella you were having a nightmare." He said. I felt the blood rush to my cheeks and my knew that my heart was accelerating once again. "You were tossing and turning and you kept saying no." He finished.

"Really?" I asked.

"I came up to see if everything was alright."

"Oh okay." I said. I knew where this conversation was going, and I just don't know if I am ready for it,yet.

"Were you dreaming about the wolves?" He asked probing for information.

"Probably not." I said staring off into space. Chances are it was the same reoccurring dream I have been having, except this time Emmett actually saved me.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked. I shook my head no.

"Ok well. I will be downstairs if you need me." Emmett said as he released me and stood from the bed. As he turned to walk towards the door, I couldn't help but feel awful. Last night Emmett trusted me with is deepest darkest secret. He trusted me to not to tell anyone that he and his family were mythical creatures, and I cannot even find the courage to tell him mine. Out of everyone here in Forks, he is the one I trust the most. He is one of the few people I want to spend time with, and the others are is family. For him to truly be able to trust me, he has to know that I trust him.

"Wait." I said quietly as he reach the door. I looked up at him from my bed as he turned towards me. I could feel the tears well at the bottom of my eyes as I prepared myself for what I was about to say. "Do you really want to know?" I asked.

"Only what you want to tell me." He answered. He was perfect. Not just physically, he was perfect in every way. I knew he was probably dying to know what my dream was about, especially after he heard me talk in my sleep, but he wasn't going to pressure me. He didn't throw it in my face that he trusted me, but I didn't trust him. He was going to give me time to explain everything, even if that meant that he got the story in bits and pieces. I didn't deserve him.

"You were completely honest with me last night, so I will be with you." He walked towards me and sat on the foot of the bed facing me. He face was blank and unreadable.

"Please just let me get it all out first, before you say anything. If you stop me I don't think I will be able to continue." He nodded his head slightly and waited for me to start. I looked down at my bed spread, my hands were playing with a few lose threads. I took a deep breath and began.

"About a eight months ago, I was living in Arizona with my mother, Renee, and my father, Phil. Phil was an electrician and Renee was a stay at home mom. I guess you could have called us your typical family. Renee and I would go shopping together, bake cookies, gossip anything you would imagine a mother and daughter do. She was my best friend. I told her everything. She used to go to every one of my ballet recitals, and would even sit in and watch the practices sometimes." I could feel the tears come to my eyes at the memory of her. But I was getting to caught up in the memory of her than getting on with telling my story.

"One day I was walking home from school with my boyfriend, Ryan, and some of our friends. When we made it to the front of my house, I noticed this red car parked across the street. A guy was sitting in the drivers side watching me walk into my house. I didn't think anything of it, you know. I just figure he was looking for an address or was lost. But there was something about him that stuck in my memory, maybe it was his long blonde hair or just the look on his face, but I just couldn't forget it. I couldn't forget him.

"Later that week I was shopping with my girlfriends at the mall. While we where at the food court, I noticed the same guy again. Still, we lived in a small suburb of Phoenix, so it was very possible that he was shopping there too. I even saw him everyday at my school for a week when I left to walk home, but I just figured that it was a big school, and maybe he was picking someone up. We got new kids all the time. I asked my friends if they had noticed him as well, but they all said that they had no idea what I was talking about, so I just brushed it off, again. I know you probably think I am stupid or something, but you have to understand that I thought I was going crazy." I looked up at him as I said the last part. He opened his mouth to respond, but I raised my hand to stop him. I needed to get all of this out.

"I didn't start getting suspicious until he started showing up at my ballet practices, but he only showed up to the ones my mother didn't go to. I thought about telling my parents, but what would I say. 'I think there is a strange man following me, but it it could be a coincidence considering they are all public places.' I just couldn't do that. I felt like if I did, I would be the boy who cried wolf if it proved to be untrue. So I kept my mouth shut, until I was sure he was following me.

"That came one Friday a couple of months later at the mall with my friends. We were shopping for the perfect dress to wear for my year anniversary dinner with Ryan. It was good day, we found the dress and shoes, and I hadn't seen that guy for the past week. I thought he was done, or that he had left town. By that point, I really believed that it was just my imagination. While we were at the food court eating something for dinner, I went to the bathroom. When I walked in, it was empty. But when I opened the stall to leave, I felt someone push me back in. It was the guy. His hands where everywhere." I felt the tears begin to spill over, and I quickly whipped them away. I had to get through this. I turned away from Emmett not wanting to see his face as I continued.

"He slammed me into the the wall on of the stall and pressed his body against mine. I will never forget what he said. He told me that he had been watching me for sometime now, and he felt it was finally time for him to make his move. He promised we would be together soon. He even asked if I felt the same connection he did. I was too afraid to talk, I just started to cry harder. He said that he knew I was the one for him because of my eyes. It was then that the bathroom door opened and someone called my name. He kissed my lips and promised we would be together soon, before he ran out.

"I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. I just slid down the stall and cried. My friend, Megan, was the one who called my name. She said I was taking to long, and everyone wanted to continue shopping. She even congratulated me on hooking up with the hot guy in the bathroom. I didn't get it. I was crying on a public bathroom floor after a man just left the girls bathroom and she thought I hooked up with him. She even promised she wouldn't tell Ryan or anyone else. I remember just looking at her and asking her to take me home." I took a deep breath preparing my self for what was coming, what I was about to say.

"When I got home, I ran to my mother and told her everything. She called my father and the cops. When the cops came, I told them everything that happened at the mall and they said because I didn't have a name, and because the cameras were down in the hallway outside of the bathroom, they had nothing to go on. They promised to look into the malls security system to see if they could find anything, but they made no promises. They told me that if I could get a name, they could get a restraining order, but until then I shouldn't go anywhere alone.

"That night my mother laid in bed with me as I cried myself to sleep. The next day, I was on the fence about going to dinner with Ryan. But both my parents made Ryan promise not to leave me alone and to have me home by eleven. So with their encouragement, I went. The whole time all could think about was how I want to go home. Ryan had gotten so fed up with me not paying attention to him, that he just took me home early. He literally dropped me off at the door. No kiss goodnight. Nothing.

"When I entered my house it was quiet, I thought my parents might have gone to dinner, so went up to my room. Before I started to change out of my dress, I heard my parents yelling down stairs, assuming that they were fighting I just ignored it. That was until I heard my mother scream. Kicking off my heels, I ran out of my room. I was going down the stairs to see what was going on, but I stopped when I heard that voice. He yelled at my mother. 'Where is she?' And I knew it was the guy from the mall asking for me. I immediately turned, ran up the stairs, and hid under my bed.

"The yelling continued. He repeatedly asked where I was, and everytime my mother said I wasn't there. After about ten minutes, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. By this point, my heart was in my throat. I heard him threatening her every step they took." Tears where uncontrollably streaming down my face as I spoke. My voice was at least an octave above it's normal tenor, and my hands where shaking. Emmett noticing the later placed him hands in mine. I took a deep breath and continued.

"I saw two pair of feet enter my bedroom. He said 'Tell me where she is, and maybe I won't kill you.' My mother once again denied knowing my location. He threw her down on the ground bringing her face to face with me under the bed. I will never forget the look of fear in her eyes when she realized that I was indeed home. He called mother by her name, bringing her attention back to him. It was too late when by the time a saw it. He got down on his knees straddling her. The first time he stabbed her I couldn't believe it was happening. I couldn't believe this was my life. By the third time, reality had set in, and I had place my hand over my mouth the keep in the screams." I closed my eyes trying to pull myself together. I felt Emmett squeeze my hand in encouragement.

"By the time he was done, there was blood everywhere. It was even on me. When he had decided that he had successfully killed my mother, he ran down the stairs and out the house. I couldn't control the scream that left my mouth after the front door slammed. Minutes later the police arrived, apparently a neighbor heard yelling and was concerned. They found my father dead on the kitchen floor, and me upstairs with my mother. I was taken into the station that night to give my statement. Within hour they had caught him. I will never forget the look on his face when he was me sitting there in my dress covered in blood as they hauled him into custody. As he passed, he mouthed the word soon to me. He was charged with two counts of first degree murder and sexual assault because of what he did to me the day before. Given that was a small town and the nature of the crime, they decided to expedite the trail process.

"A social services person showed up the next day, and took me to get some clothes. She also informed me that they had called my uncle who I would be going to live with after the trial was over. I told her I didn't have an uncle, that both my parents where only children. But she said that my mother indeed had a brother, who was willing to take me in and I should consider myself lucky, because otherwise I would be in a foster home. Because Charlie is chief of police, he couldn't get down to Arizona to get me, and I didn't want to leave until after the trail was over, so we worked it out so that I stay in a hotel with someone from social services until the trial was over.

"Over the next month everything fell apart. Ryan tried be supportive, but when I wouldn't give him what he wanted, he went looking for it other places. And wherever Ryan went his friends did too. By the time the trial started ,I was alone. I had no friends, no family, nothing. I had refused professional help, I didn't need to pay someone to tell me I had problems. I just wanted to get out. The trail was over in a week. The jury took an hour to come to a decision, I am surprised it took that long, but they found him guilty. The judge sentenced him to 50 years in prison. That was all my parents lives were worth apparently. 50 years.

"So there you have it." I said looking up at him. His face was unreadable, but his eyes weren't. There was a mix of anger and sadness behind them. "That's the real story as to why I moved here, the rest you know." I broke eye contact with him and looked down at my lap. One of his hands left my lap, and went to my chin forcing me to look at him. I don't know what I was expecting him to say, but it wasn't what came out of his mouth.

"I am sorry for your loss, and I am sorry that you had to go through that." That broke the dam. More tears began to stream down my face and the next thing I know I am in Emmett's lap with his arms wrapped around me.

"It's okay." He whispered. "I promise everything is going to be okay."

**Well there you have it. What do you think of the story of how Bella got to Forks? Pretty awful huh. Let me know what you think and I will send you a preview of how Emmett and Bella handle her confession. Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Wow guys, Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews. I never thought I would make it to over 100 when I started this, so this is amazing. Keep them coming, they make me smile. Also I put up the sequel to my first story One Sweet Love. If you haven't read it, check it out! NOW!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. The character belong to SM. No copyright infringement intended. **

(Bpov)

Emmett must have sat holding me for hours, rubbing my back, and saying calming words. When I had finally pulled myself together, I leaned out of his grasp and wiped my eyes. I looked up at Emmett to once again see his face unreadable as if he was trying to hide something. He pursed his lips together searching for the right words to say.

"Better?" I guess he found them. I nodded my head in response to his question. It was then that I actually got a good look at him.

"I am sorry." I mumbled.

"Why are you sorry?" He said seriously.

"I ruined your shirt." I said pointing to the wet spots on his white tee shirt from my tears.

"The shirt can be replaced." He said looking down at my lap where I was ringing my hands. "Hey." He said reaching out from my hands. "It's okay. You're okay."

He wrapped his hands around mine. I was far from okay after reliving my worst nightmare. But the weird thing is that that wasn't in the forefront of my mind right now. What was bothering me the most was that this could be the last time I see Emmett. Now that he knows everything, and realizes how screwed up I am, he will leave like everyone else did.

"No I am not." I said in return to him trying to calm me.

"What is wrong? What are you worried about?" He asked.

"To be honest." I said looking up into his golden eyes. "I am waiting for you to tell me how stupid I am. And tell me how you don't think you can hang around me anymore. And possibly tell me how I managed to kill my parents." I looked down at my lap waiting for him to agree with everything I had just said. It wouldn't have been the first time I heard it. My so called friends in Phoenix wouldn't let me forget. I heard him take in a deep breath, and watched as hands come up to my face. Placing each hand on my cheeks, he lifted my head up to meet his.

"Bella none this was your fault. You are not stupid. You did not kill your parents, and I am not going anywhere. Well that's a lie, I might go find this guy and kill him, but I would be right back." I couldn't help laugh at his promise to commit murder.

"You can't kill him, he is already in jail." I said back with a small smile on my face.

"Oh I have my ways." He said wiggling his eyebrows. I once again found myself laughing at his use of humor to lighten up the room.

He let go of my face and pulled back. I found myself missing the close proximity of his face to mine. Oh god. Since this is the day of honesty, I might as well admit, only to myself, that I might like Emmett. How crazy is that? I like a vampire.

Maybe I should be on medication.

"Is that what the dreams are about?" Emmett asked. I could only nodded my head, I was still reeling from the fact that I admitted to myself I liked Emmett.

"Bella, I promised I would protect you. I would keep safe. I wasn't just talking about the wolves, Bella. I will protect you from everything. I care too much to ever let anything happen to you."

I was broken out of my internal monologue by his use of the word care.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean that I will protect you at all costs."

"No not that. What do you mean by you care about me? You have said that twice now. Last night and just now." My stomach grumbled as I finished clarifying my question.

"You caught on to that huh?" He asked. I smiled and nodded my head. "You sure you want to know?" I nodded as once again my stomach reminded me I was hungry.

"Ok, how about we go downstairs, get you something to eat. And while you eat, I will talk."

"Okay" I said as I stood and walked towards the bathroom. After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I went downstairs to find Emmett rummaging through the kitchen cabinets and checking his phone.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I walked up beside him.

"I was looking to see if I could make you something to eat, but there is not much here."

"Yea. Charlie is not much of a chef." I said grabbing a cereal box. "So this will have to do."

I poured myself a bowl, and grabbed the milk. As I sat down at the table, Emmett sat across from me. I grabbed a spoonful of cereal and put it in my mouth.

"Alright, I'm eating, so you start talking." I said. He took a deep breath and began.

"Bella, vampires have what are called mates. People who they are meant to spend the rest of there existence with. They are their perfect match in every way, and there is only one. The one. And not every vampire is lucky enough to find theirs." I continued to spoon cereal in my mouth as I listened not really sure where he was going with this.

"Alice and Jasper are mates. So are Rosalie and Edwards, and Carlisle and Esme." He continued.

"Do you have a mate?" I asked trying not to talk with my mouth full, no one needs to see that. The thought of Emmett having some hot vampire woman that he was destined to be with did not sit well with me. But considering that he has excepted me flaws and all, I will take whatever I can get form him, even if that mean friendship. Emmett smiled before he answered probably because I was taking the news better than expected.

"I think I do." He responded.

"Who is she? Are there other vampires in Forks?" I asked trying to be supportive. He chuckled.

"There are no other vampires in Forks. Although nomads visit sometimes."

"Oh I guess that's is good to know. But don't change the subject who is this girl?... Or boy?" I said not wanting to assume he was straight. He immediately did his booming laugh at my correction.

"Bella, I am not gay." He said trying to pull himself together.

"Well I didn't know. I didn't want to to think I wasn't accepting." I said laughing with him. "So who is she?"

"She is not a vampire."

"Okay. Do I know her?"

"Pretty well." He said smiling. Confused I thought of all the girls in town I could say I knew well.

"Oh God is it Jessica?" The smile immediately vanished from his face.

"You really think that I would find Jessica attractive." He said stone faced. I couldn't help but smile as I shook my head. He was offended that I thought he like Jessica. "You really aren't catching on are you?" He said as I stood to put away my bowl.

"Catching on to what?" I said placing the bowl in the dishwasher.

"What human do I spend most of my time with?" He said making me jump, because he was right behind me. "Who is the only person I talk to besides my family?" He asked. Then it hit me.

He was talking about me. He likes me. He thinks that I am his mate.

I turned around to face him with my jaw slacked.

"Me?" I asked unsure. No use getting my hopes up. He chuffed and nodded his head.

"Are you sure you don't mean someone else, because I have a lot of problems?"

"I am not going anywhere, Bella." He said as his face began to fall. "I will be here as long as you want me. Even if it is just as a friend."

"That's not what I meant." I said interrupting him for the second time today. A smile broke out on his face as he waited for me to continue. "Emmett, this entire week that I have been here, I have felt this pull towards you. I dunno I can't explain it. But I do know that at school you are the only person I actually want to spent time with. I definitely want you as friends but I thought you where talking about more?" I asked hoping that he would tell me I was right. As always Emmett did not disappoint.

"I was Bella, but are you willing to get involved with a vampire?" He asked. I shrugged.

"I didn't care that you were one last night, what would change now. But now that you know everything, are you sure you want to get involved with someone as damaged as I am?" I asked. A smile broke out on his face as I finished.

"You are anything but damaged Bella." He said. "And even if you where, I would still be here." I couldn't help but smile back at him.

"Well I am glad you think that, because others would disagree."

"I don't really worry about what other people think." He said stepping closed to me, closing the gap between our bodies. All my senses where heightened the closer he got. But as he closed the gap between us his cell phone rang. Closing his eyes, he immediately stopped and pulled out his phone. Looking at the screen, he huffed and picked it up.

"What do you want Alice?" He said annoyed. I chuckled as I turned to walk away to give him some privacy. They may not really be brother and sister, but they sure act like it. As I was putting the cereal back into the cabinet, the door bell rang. Unsure as to who it was, I started walking towards the door not giving Emmett a second glance. As I opened it, Kaiser ran in.

"Kaiser." I said as I watched him run passed. When I turned back to see who had returned him, I was met by a older Native American man in a wheel chair. His dark hair was long and pulled back, and his eyes where wise.

"Oh my gosh thank you for returning him. Where did you find him?" I said smiling at the man in front of me. He returned my smile and opened his mouth to speak, but as soon as it opened it closed. The smile fell off of his face and he frowned. I heard Emmett footsteps behind me and he came to my side.

"Billy." Emmett said with a stern look on his face. I looked back a Billy and watched him take a deep breath.

"Emmett, can't say I am surprised to see you here." Billy replied staring Emmet down. I was now officially confused.

"I am sorry. Am I missing something here? Do you two know each other?" I asked looking back and forth between Billy and Emmett.

"I am sorry. We where being rude. My name is Billy Black." At the mention of his name I felt my muscles tense. This was the man that Sam was talking about last night.

"Okay." I said unsure as to where this was going. I felt Emmett shift beside me.

"I am friend of your uncles. He asked me to look check on you this weekend." I nodded my head. "I heard about what happened last night, and I am sorry that you had to be put through that. It won't happen again. Sometimes they can get a little carried away."

"Carried away." I heard Emmett say, but raised my hand to stop him. The last thing we need right now is a fight.

"Thank you the apology, and returning Kaiser. I don't know how you found him, but I am sure it wasn't easy." I said trying to hold out the olive branch.

"I sent the boys out to get him last night. After everything that happened, the last thing you needed to do was search for the dog." He said.

"Well, thank you." I said again hoping to end the conversation. I just because I was being nice didn't mean I was comfortable talking to him.

"Yes thank you" Emmett said but it was so obvious he didn't mean it I almost laughed.

"Ok well I am going to go. Bella call me if you need anything." Billy said. Emmett scoffed. I nodded my head, ignoring Emmett childish behavior, and waved as he rolled away.

"Like that'll happen." Emmett said as I closed the door. I turned to look at him, and crossed my arms over my chest.

"What?" He asked shrugging his shoulders.

"Would it kill you to act like an adult?" I asked.

"He started it." That was his defense. He started it. I just rolled my eyes and walked into the living room, sat on the couch and turned on the TV. Emmett came and sat next to me.

"Are you mad?" He asked like a child begging it mother to forgive him. I turned my head to look at him and couldn't help but giggle at the over exaggerated frown on him face.

"No." I said turning back to the television. We sat there watching a movie for next two hours. During that time, I had managed to be laying on the couch with my head in Emmett lap. Don't know it happen, but he didn't seem to have a problem with it. As the credit rolled, I sat up.

"Where's Kaiser?" I asked unsure where the dog had been the last couple of hours.

"Upstairs." Emmett said. "Bella, that dog will come no where near me."

"Why?"

"To him I am a predator. I'm dangerous."

"Maybe you should be around more often, I hate that dog. So far it has caused me nothing but trouble." I said.

"So what do you wan to do next?" He asked smiling at me.

"Um, I am actually a little hungry." I state as stand up and go into the kitchen. "Do you want anything?" I yell as I open cabinets looking for popcorn. Next thing I know Emmett is right next to me.

"Seriously?" He says, as I realize the question I actually asked.

"Sorry habit." I shrug as I pull put the popcorn the microwave. He laughs slightly and leans back onto the counter. After I started the microwave, I turned back to face him.

"You haven't eaten since you've been here. How often do you have to eat?" I asked. "Or drink, I guess." He chuckled at my correction and took as step towards me.

"Technically I could go forever without food. Carlisle went a weeks until he realized that he could hunt animals and be satiated. But like human we get irritable without food, so my family and I hunt a couple of times a week."

"So when the next time you have to 'hunt'?" I said making quotes with my fingers.

"Not for awhile." He said smiling as the microwave beeped. I took the popcorn out and poured it into a bowl. Once we were back in the living room, I sat down with a bowl of popcorn in my lap facing Emmett.

"I have more questions." I said wondering when he was going to get sick of me bothering him.

"Shoot."

"Last night you said that every vampire has a special ability or quality that they bring with them from their human life. What's yours?" I asked.

"Some vampires have powers like Alice being able to see the future, or Jasper, he manipulate and feel emotions."

"Oh god high school must be awful for him." I interrupted, shoving popcorn in my mouth.

"Awful for him. Hilarious for me. The only other person who has a active power in our family his Edward. He can read minds."

"Oh." I said hoping that Edward has not spent any time rummaging through my brain.

"Don't worry. I don't think he has bothered to try to even look in yours. He is to busy trying to figure out if I'm crazy." He smiled.

"Why would he think you are crazy?" I asked. The smile for his face fell and he looked straight at me. "Oh. He thinks because you like me, you've lost your mind." I finished looking down at the popcorn in my lap.

"I told you already. I don't worry about what people think." He said. I raised my head and smiled at him. I wasn't sure if I believed him though. Edward is his family, I am just some girl he may have a crush on.

"So what is your ability?" I asked getting back to the original subject, I couldn't talk about my inadequacy any longer.

"My strength." He said. "I am stronger than any other vampire we have ever met."

"That's it?" I asked. "Edwards can read minds, Alice can see the future, and your strong."

"Hey! I could probably pick up this house with one hand." He said. "Anyways thats all you need when you are as good looking as me." He said wiggling his eyebrows.

"I would respond to that but I don't want to inflate you ego. It can barely fit in this room as it is."

"Are you saying you think I am good looking?" He said leaning into me trying to get an answer.

"I plead the fifth."

I spent the next hour asking Emmett questions about his life style. I learning where his favorite places to hunt were. What his favorite food was. Anything to get to know the man infront of me better. I leaned he could out run my truck easily and he could pick out my heart beat in a room full of people.

When I couldn't come up with any questions, we ordered a movie, and I once again found myself snuggling into Emmett's side. By the time the film ended it was already eleven at night and I was yawning for the thousandth time in the last hour.

"Looks like someone is sleepy." Emmett commented.

"I guess." I mumbled resting my head on Emmett's chest as my eyes began to close. I felt the arm the wasn't wrapped around me slide under my knees and the next thing I knew, I was being lifted off the ground bridal style. My eyes immediately shot open and I reach out for Emmett's neck.

"Please don't drop me." I said clutching on to him.

"Relax. I am just carrying you up to your room." Emmett said. "I promise I won't drop you. Super strong remember."

I nodded my head and snuggled further into his chest. In no time, felt softness beneath me, as Emmett laid me under the covers and tucked me in. I snuggled into the pillow, as I felt him move my hair out of my face and tell me goodnight.

Then it hit me. He was going to leave. He was going to leave me. After reliving hell this morning, I couldn't stand the thought of being alone.

"Emmett." I said sitting up and facing him, as he stood over my bed. "Could you stay again? Please." He smile spread across his face and he nodded his head.

"I'll do anything you want Bella." He said as he turned to walk out of the room.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Downstairs."

"We already know I am going to have a nightmare tonight, and you are going to be up here by the morning, so you might as well stay up here and maybe I won't have a nightmare." I said trying not to sound as desperate as I was to have him near me.

"Whatever you want." He said as he turned around and walked towards my small bed. I scooted over to make room as he laid down next to me. Too tired to be ashamed, I raised his arm and snuggled into his chest. He wrapped his arm around me and began to rubb circles on my back.

"Good night beautiful." That was the last thing I heard as sleep over took me.

**Well there you go. I figured after the eventful 24 hours they just had, they needed some time to relax. So review and let me know what you think, and I will send you back a preview of what is going on in Emmett's heads. Also Don't forget to check out my new story.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Wow guys Thanks for all of the reviews. They are really giving me to motivation I need to keep going. RL has gotten hectic. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. The character belong to SM. No copyright infringement intended. **

(Empov)

As I lay here, holding Bella in my ams as she slept, I couldn't help but smile. After everything we had been through the last 48 hours, she wants to be with me. She didn't run. She didn't scream. She didn't even freak out. She trusted me. She trusted me with her secrets and her fears. She trusted me to protect her.

Yesterday had been the best and worst day of my existence. It solidified that she was not afraid of me. Not once did I hear her heart accelerate as I answered questions about our lifestyle. She actually showed interest in it. But she also told me the most tragic story of her life. Knowing that she went through that made me want to find the man responsible and torture him for the rest of his life. Not only did he attack her in a public bathroom, but he also killed her parents. I couldn't image what Bella felt watching and hearing that.

My arms tighten around her as I thought about Bella in pain. I will do everything in my power to make sure that she never feels anything but happiness, joy, and love again. I took an unnecessary breath taking in Bella's scent. If this was the only thing I smelled for the rest of eternity, I would be happy.

I spent most of the night listening to Bella talk in her sleep. It was the cutest thing ever. Nothing she said ever made sense, just a few random word here and there, but every once and awhile my name slipped past her lips. To know that she was dreaming of me, made me feel like a hormonal teenage human boy again. When she would mumble it, a grin would spread across my face and I would occupy my time wondering what she was dreaming about. When she would moan it, well let just say that my body reacted in ways it probably shouldn't have. There was no way after everything she had been through that Bella was prepared for a visit from little Em, even though he was dying to make an appearance.

I heard Bella's heart speed up and her breathing become more irregular. She was waking up. I quickly released my hold on her, and just allowed her to lay on me. I didn't want to freak her out by letting her know I was holding her in her sleep all night long. She may be ok with being with me, but I didn't want to push my luck.

I felt Bella stir next to me, and looked down at her as she opened her beautiful eyes. How they still manage to take my breath away, I will never know.

"Good Morning, beautiful." I said quietly not wanting startle her awake.

"Morning." She mumbled rubbing her eyes as she sat up slowly. I was torn between missing the contact of Bella's skin against mine, and loving the new view of the sliver of Bella's skin as her shirt lifted up. She turned over her shoulder to look at me, and I swear my dead heart started beating again. Her hair was a knotted mess, and she still had sleep in her eyes, but I had never seen a more beautiful creature in my life. Then her eyes widen and she leaped over me out of the bed.

"Given me a minute." She said almost running out of the room. I had to laugh as I heard to faucet in the bathroom turn on and the sounds of Bella brushing her teeth. After a couple of minutes, she came back into her room and climbed back into bed.

"Better?" I asked smiling that she decided to get back into bed with me.

"Much." She said leaning back on the pillows so that she was laying next to me. She turned her head to look at me and spoke. "So what did you do last night while I was sleeping?"

"You would think I would be bored watching you sleep, but" I said bringing my hands behind my head looking up at the ceiling. "Like always you never fail to surprise me."

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked turning her body towards me with a smile on her face.

"That means that you talk in your sleep." I said mimicking her by turning my body towards her. As realization of what I said hit her, her eyes widened and heart accelerated.

"Oh my gosh. What did I say?"

"Nothing too embarrassing. You pretty much just said random words."

"Like what?" she asked suspiciously.

"Ice, Puppy, and moon among other things." I shrugged my shoulder trying to tell her it was no big deal. I found it cute.

"Why do I feel like you are leaving something out?" She said leaning her head in towards me.

"Well you may have said my name a couple of times." I said quietly gaging her reaction.

"Oh great." She replied rolling her eyes. "I am sure that did a number on your ego."

"You have no idea." I said leaning towards her wiggling my eyebrows. By this point our faces where inches apart, and I could feel her warm minty breath fanning my face. When I brought my eyes up to hers, she was looking down at my mouth. All I had to do was lean in a little further, but she must have noticed me staring because a blush crept onto her face and her eyes darted to mine. I found my self surrounded by the sweet smell of Bella.

"Emmett," She whispered as I secretly rejoiced that she had not pulled away yet. "Why did you call me beautiful?"

"Because that is exactly what you are." I said with no hesitation. She needed to know. She needed to know that she was the most beautiful creature I had ever laid eyes on. Her eyes left mine as she looked down at her feet. There will be none of that, I thought as I raise my right hand to her cheek and waited for her to raise her eyes to mine. When she did, I made sure to clarify exactly what I meant. "And I don't just mean your name."

At that point, I couldn't control myself. My senses where overruled by everything Bella. She was all I saw. She was all I smelt, and she was all I could think about. Before my brain could stop my body, I was leaning forward and lightly touching my lips to hers. Her soft lips gave to my cold ones, and I heard her heart accelerate. OH SHIT. I may have just overstepped my bounds. I quickly pulled away and began to apologize.

"Bella, I'm sorry. I don't know what just came over me." She stopped my rambling by quickly putting her lips back on mine and kissing me again. This time I noticed the heat radiating off of her lips on to mine. I had never felt more human than I had at that moment. Wanting more of her I lowered my hand from her face and brought it to her waist pulling her body closer to me. Feeling her heat against my body put me into overdrive. I had to have more.

Pressing my luck further, I ran my tongue across her lips begging for entrance. I could have done a happy dance when she granted it. Once I had tasted her, I knew I would be addicted for eternity. She tasted even better than she smelled. As my tongue explored her mouth, Bella hands where on my abdomen rubbing back and forth igniting my skin. I felt her fist my shirt trying to pull me closer to her, as she moaned into my mouth. When she pulled away needed air, I went to kissing her neck getting closer and closer to her pulse point. When my tongue ran over the thin skin separating her blood from me, I heard Bella's stomach grumble. I pulled back chuckling.

"Hungry?" I said taking pride that her disheveled look was from me as she nodded her head. Keeping my arms tightly wrapped around her, I quickly stood up and ran down the stairs to the kitchen at vampire speed.

"A little warning next time you do that." She said as I set her down holding her as she tried to get her balance. I guess I was moving a little to fast.

"Sorry." I replied. She nodded her head and walked past me to get cereal. As Bella was pouring the milk into her bowl, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. When I pulled it out, I saw that it was a message from Alice.

_You've got ten minutes till Charlie comes home, and you don't want to be there when he does. And don't worry about the wolves, Carlisle already talked to them. _

Feeling as though Alice took away every excuse I could think of to stay, beside I wanted to, I knew I had to leave. It would be tough to explain to Charlie why I was in his house. As Bella went to sit at the table, I grabbed a pen and paper from next to the telephone, and wrote down my cell number.

"Bella," I said walking to her and placing the paper in front of her on the table. "I have to go, Charlie is going to be home soon, and it will be hard to explain why I am here so early. Here is my cell, call me if you need me for anything." She turned to look at me and nodded her head.

"Will you be back tonight?" She asked in a shy and quiet voice. I couldn't hide the smile that spread across my face as she not so discretely asked me to come back to stay the night with her.

"Yea, I will be here before you go to bed, so leave your window unlocked. Or else I will break it."

"Okay." She said. I leaned in and kissed her forehead, reluctant to leave, but I heard Charlie's cruiser coming closer.

"I will see you tonight." I said before I turned, ran out the room and out towards my house. I made it home five minutes later, the whole time thinking about my kiss with Bella. When I entered the house, I ran in on Alice and Edward in the middle of a chess match. They both turned and looked at me at the same time, Alice with a smile, and Edward with a scowl.

"You kissed her." He said rudely. As if on cue, Rosalie came running down the stairs.

"God, Emmett your dumber than I thought." She said as she went to go sit down by her husband.

"I win." Alice yelled keeping me from telling Rosalie's self centered ass off. Edward kissed his wife and turned back to the board.

"I want a rematch."

"Emmett." Carlisle said entering the living room. "Can I have a word?"

"Yea, just give me a minute to change." I replied looking down at the clothes I have been wearing since Friday.

"That's probably a good idea, we can smell your human from here." Rose decided to add into the conversation.

"Well she sure as hell smell's better than you." I quipped back.

"Oh please."

"You know what Rose I have had enough of your God damn attitude. Do you have to be a raging bitch all the time?" I yelled turning towards her.

"Enough." Carlisle said stopping a fight that I am sure will be continued later. "Emmett go change and meet me in my office." He finished leaving the room.

I turned towards the stairs and became to climb them slowly. Edward control you wife, I thought knowing he would hear. The growl I got in response let me know he did. Once I had showered and changed out of my clothes, I walked down the stairs into Carlisle's study. The walls where lined with mahogany bookcases, and a large desk was at the far wall which was cover in windows letting in natural light. Carlisle was sitting at his desk as I walked in.

"I heard she took the news well." He said standing and walking around his desk to meet me. We both sat in the facing arm chairs in front of his desk.

"Yea, she did."

"That's good." He said nodding his head. "Well I am sure you are wondering what happened at our meeting with the wolves yesterday." I nodded again awaiting what he was going to tell me.

"I called a meeting right after I had gotten off the phone with you Friday night. Edward and Jasper came with to the treaty line the next morning to meet them. Surprisingly it wasn't just the pack that met us. The elders came as well."

"Why would the elders come?" I asked. Anytime that a meeting as ever been called, it is only the pack that shows up, and normally it isn't even the entire pack.

"To discuss the breach of the original treaty."

"Their the one's that broke it." I interrupted.

"I know, Emmett. But they made a good point. It was inevitable that it was going to be broken cause you where hanging out with her. She would have gotten suspicious. She would have asked questions. She would have found out, Emmett. They were trying to say the technically we broke the treaty first." The realization that he was right set it.

"You're right. We would've had to tell her, but she didn't have to find out like this. And I wouldn't have exposed the wolves."

"I know. And I said that. I told them that they forced our hand. And they agreed. The bottom line is that they have agreed to stay out of the way as long as her safety isn't in question. And that includes turning her into one of us."

"Saw that coming." I mumbled to myself.

"Emmett do you plan on changing her?" He asked.

"I have thought about." I said shrugging. In honesty, I had. The thought of spending eternity with Bella brought a smile to my face. To see her everyday, and hold her every night is all I want. "But I wouldn't force it on her. And definitely not any time soon, but she asked me too. Yea I would do it."

"Well that changes things, but I guess we will cross that bridge when we get there." He said.

"Told you we should have left town." Rosalie said downstairs causing a growl to erupt in my chest. That woman is seriously getting on my fucking nerves. I heard Esme chastise her, so I kept my mouth shut.

"Let's go for a hunt." Carlisle said standing and running out the room, not giving me time to refuse. I took off after him, leaving the house, and running into the woods. We took down a couple bucks and I found a bear. Once we were both finished, we slowly began to walk back.

"Carlisle?" I asked as we walked at a human pace towards the house.

"What's on your mind?"

"I know that you know a little about what happened to Bella before she came here, and yesterday she told me the entire story."

"How bad it is?"

"Bad. I want to hunt the guy down and rip his throat out. I want him feel what she is feeling now. I want to kill him." I growled and my balled my hands into fists at the thought.

"Don't focus on the guy. Focus on Bella."

"I know. The fact she made it through that, makes me respect her so much more. But it still affects her. She gets nightmares every night about. To point where she is crying her sleep. I don't know what to do or how to help her. She doesn't want to see a professional and I won't force her too. But I want to help her. I want her to get better. I want her to not be scared anymore." I said running my hands over my face. I felt good to tell Carlisle those things. The things I fear. "I don't want this to haunt her anymore."

"Emmett," Carlisle stopped and turned towards me. As I turned to face him, he mouth was in a grim line. "I cannot explain how proud of you I am. I can tell that you are doing everything in your power, to make her feel better. But that's all you can do. If she doesn't want to get help, you can force her, and if you did you would be pushing her away. Be happy that she trusts you enough to talk to you about. And when she does, all you can do is reassure and comfort her. I know you are doing everything you can, but it's going to take time." I nodded my head not liking the answer Carlisle gave me, but luckily the one thing I have is time.

As I looked at Carlisle, I noticed the sun setting behind him.

"What time is it?" I asked. He looked down at his watch.

"Eight."

"If you don't mind.."

"Go." He said knowing that I was going to head to Bella's instead of home. I took off in the direction of Bella's house looking down at my clothes happy for once I decided not to play with my food. Once I got there, I climbed the tree by her window and looked in. She was sitting on the floor collapsing several boxes. Her hair was in a ponytail and she was in her pajamas. But she was still the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I quickly slipped in the room through the unlocked window.

"Told you I'd come back." I said startling her. She jumped up and quickly turned to look at me.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" She asked bring her hands to her chest taking deep breaths.

"Wouldn't dream of it." I said sitting on her bed. I heard Charlie's footsteps coming towards the door, and braced myself to run back out the window, but he stopped a few feet short.

"Bella." He yelled.

"Yea."

"I am off to bed."

"Okay Goodnight."

"Goodnight." He said and I heard his footsteps head down the hall towards his room. I looked around Bella's room, and noticed that at least four of the boxes have been unpacked. Pictures and trinkets were randomly placed on shelves and the desk. Although I didn't see pictures of her mother and father, it was good that she was beginning to get comfortable here. As I continued my scan of the room, I saw Bella bent over trying to push a heavy box into the corner. I was next to in half a second, pushing the box with my foot in her desired location.

"So this is what you have been doing while I was gone?" I asked as she stood up, and I wrapped my arms around her.

"I told you I had to unpack."

"True." I said squeezing her closer to me but careful not to put too much pressure on her small frame. "Is there any thing else you want moved?"

She shook her head, stepped out of my embrace, walked over to the door and shut off the lights. I watched her walk towards her bed in the dark carefully. Although I could see perfectly, I knew she could see nothing but the light coming from the window, and I wasn't going to let Bella get hurt on my watch.

When she finally made it to her bed, I hurried and laid down next to her. And just like the previous night, she raise my arm, wrapped it around her, and snuggled into my chest. I took a deep breath inhaling her delicious scent. As if reading my mind, Bella spoke.

"Emmett?"

"Yea."

"Is it hard for you to be around me?" I was thoroughly confused.

"No. What do you mean?"

"I mean is it hard for you to be around my blood. I know that you can smell it, and that human blood attracts you. Is it hard for you to be around me all the time?" She said looking up at me. This was a tricky subject. I don't want to scare her, but I don't want to lie to her either. Looking down at her, I chose my words carefully.

"Bella, you blood will always attract me, but I don't have the...urge, I guess you could say, to drink it." I said searching for the right words. "Why do you ask?"

"I was afraid that you were uncomfortable this whole weekend. You know having to be around me, because I kept asking you to stay." She looked down ashamed of her actions this weekend. I can't have that. This has been the best weekend of my existence.

"Bella, I could never be uncomfortable around you. You allowing me to be here after everything that has happened is what made this weekend so great." I said lifting her chin with my hand, and bringing my lips down to hers. This was a chaste kiss, nothing like the one this morning, but equally as great. Her warmth had just began to spread through my lips when I pulled away. "And don't be embarrassed that you asked me to stay. Because if you hadn't, I would probably sitting outside in that tree making sure your ok. And this" I said pointing towards her bed. "is so much better than a tree."

She chuckled a little, and I internally celebrated that she didn't think I was a stalker. She left out a small yawn, and I kissed her forehead.

"Go to sleep beautiful."

**Hmmm. What do you think about what is going on is Emmett's head? And how about that Kiss? Let me know, and I will send you a preview of the next chapter which is Bella's next day a school. I wonder Lauren's going to take it. Ch 14 isn't complete yet so if you have any idea's or requests for what should happen at school let me know!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Thanks for all the reviews and suggestions. They really helped with writing this chapter. So keep them coming, and I will try to fit them in. FYI You have MissNikita to thank for how this ends.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. The character belong to SM. No copyright infringement intended. **

(Bpov)

I was woken up Monday morning by the loud beeping of my alarm. As I rolled over to turn it off, I felt something crinkle on my face. I opened my eyes to find a note, between my face and the pillow. Reaching out as far as I could, I slammed my hand down on the alarm turning it off. Sitting up, I rubbed my eyes and grabbed the note.

_ Good Morning Beautiful,_

_ Hope you slept well. I had to leave, because Charlie came to check on you before he left for work, and I wanted a fresh pair of clothes. I will be here to pick you up at 7:45 to take you to school. Your not driving the hunk of junk anymore._

_ Emmett_

I quickly shot out of bed, and went to take a shower. I took the bandaging off of my right hand to see that most of the cuts had healed which only meant one thing, I would be participating in gym today. Crap.

By the time I was in the kitchen eating cereal, I knew Emmett was pulling up, and it wasn't just the rumble of his Jeep that told me. Kaiser bolted up the stairs. Dumb dog. My doorbell rang seconds after, I stood to put my bowl in the sink, and walked towards the door.

When I opened it, I was immediately enveloped in Emmett's arms and lifted off the ground. I wrapped my arms around his neck out of need to be close to him, and fear of being dropped. He spun us around once, and then pressed his lips to mine in the same innocent kiss we had last night. It wasn't enough. I needed more. I got bold, and opened my mouth to him hoping he would get the picture. He did.

His tongue was instantly in my mouth. I didn't even bother trying to battle for dominance, he would win every time. I reveled in his sweet taste, and before I could stop it a moan escaped from my mouth. This must have set something off within him, because the next thing I knew my back was against the wall, and his hands were lifting my legs to that they could wrap around him. I tightened my hold on his neck, and he moved one hand to my back pulling me impossibly closer and the other to the wall to support both of us, not that I think he needed the extra help. I explored his mouth, feeling his hard lips against mine. When air became necessary, I pulled back. As I was trying to get oxygen back into my lungs, Emmett went to places kisses all over my neck.

"Best morning ever." He moaned into my shoulder, before he brought his lips back to mine. I opened my mouth and tilted my head to give him better access. Then I felt my left leg vibrate. Shocked by the intrusion, I pulled back as much as the wall would let me.

"Alice." Emmett said without checking his phone. He moved his hands back to my legs, and untangled them from his body. Once he had lowered me onto solid ground, he took a small step back.

"As much as I hate to say this, we should go or we'll be late." I nodded my head, and walked back into the kitchen to get my backpack. As I lifted it over my shoulders, I felt the heat rush to my face as I thought about what had just happened in the hallway. As I rounded the corner back to Emmett, I saw he was standing at the front door holding it open for me.

"Thanks." I said as I walked outside towards his jeep. As always, it was misty and overcast outside. By the time I made it to the passenger door, he was standing there holding is open for me. I guess chivalry isn't dead. As I stepped on the foot rail to hoist myself into the monster truck, I lost my footing. As I was about to bang my shin on his car, Emmett's hand grabbed each side of my waist and lifted me in.

"Careful." He whispered in my ear before, closing the door and walking at a human pace to the drivers side.

"Thanks again." I mumbled knowing he heard me as he back out of the driveway. Once we made it to school, I realized it didn't think this whole Emmett drive me thing through. Everyone was watching as he parked the Jeep in his normal spot next to Edward's car. The urge to stay in the car grew as more eyes turned towards us.

"Don't worry they can't see in the tint is too dark." Emmett said as he put the car in park and turned towards me.

"Do you always get starred at like this?" I asked scanning the parking lot.

"Always." He said bring my attention back to him.

"Maybe we should stay in the car till first period starts." I said hoping to avoid all the awkward glances.

"Too late." He said smiling at me.

"Too late, What do you mean to late?" It was then my door flew open. I turned to see Alice standing there with her hands on her hips.

"Alice heard." Emmett mumbled behind me as he stepped out of the car.

"Bella, I can't believe you were going to sit out here so no one would see you." Alice yelled unbuckling my seat belt and pulling me out of the Jeep towards school faster than my feet would carry me.

"My backpack." I said trying to turn around and get it from the backseat.

"I got it." Emmett said from a few feet behind me holding it up.

"I haven't seen you for two days, and you want to play hooky." Alice continued as I tried to keep up with her at a run.

"ALICE!" Emmett yelled behind us with Jasper at his side. "slow down."

"Oh sorry Bella." She said stopping. "I am just so excited to see you."

"I guess I am happy to see you too." I said looking around. All eyes were on us. I felt the blush creep to my face. "Can we go inside now?" I asked quickly.

"Yea, the bell is going to ring in a minute anyway." She said as she began pulling me inside, only slower this time. I made it into English at the tardy bell rang, and when I entered, all eyes turned on to me.

"Please go to your seat, Ms. Swan." Mrs. Kelly said sternly as I stood in front of the class red as a tomato. I quickly stumbled to my seat, and pulled out the text. As Mrs. Kelly went out describing the symbolism of _Crime and Punishment_, Jessica leaned over and whispered to me.

"How was your weekend?"

"Eventful." I said quickly hoping that she would shut up. The last thing I need is for the teacher to yell at me again.

"Oh what happened?" She asked excitedly turning her body completely towards me, not even pretending to pay attention. Jessica never failed to fish for information.

"I unpacked." I lied. I mean I did on Sunday, so it wasn't a complete lie.

"Oh did Emmett help you?" She had no tact.

"No."

"So are you two dating?"

"Ms. Stanley, and Ms. Swan," Mrs. Kelly yelled. "Am I boring you? Is there something you would like to share with the class?"

"No." I responded quickly.

"Well then pay attention." She said before she went back to her lecture.

As I tuned out Mrs. Kelly, I couldn't help but ponder what Jessica had asked me. What is my relationship to Emmett? I realized we never really discussed it as I thought through our conversations this weekend which where mainly dominated by the fact that he was a vampire. I mean I would guess that we where dating, but I don't want to presume anything.

What if Emmett doesn't want a relationship?

No, he did say the thinks I am his mate.

What if he is wrong? He said think, not know.

I began to get embarrassed thinking about the way I behaved this morning. Kissing him like that. Wrapping my legs around him. That was completely inappropriate if we where not in a relationship. I guess I just kind of assumed we were. The bell broke me out of the train of thought. Before I had even had a chance to finish pacing my bag, Jessica was asking questions.

"So seriously, are you and Emmett dating?" She asked as we walked down the hall to Math.

"Um.."

"Because he doesn't really date." She said before I even had a chance to answer. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

That was a lie, she couldn't care less about me.

"Why did he drive you to school today?"

"Well, um...my truck broke down?" I said more as a question than an answer. I could tell her that he spent the night and left a note on my pillow saying he was going to drive me but that would would be embarrassing and all over the school in five minutes..

"Oh that was nice of him." She said plainly, it was obvious she was looking for more. "Why did you ask him?"

"Well I only had Alice's number. So she sent Emmett to come get me." I replied as we walked into Math. This lie is going better than I thought.

"You could have called me." She said as we sat. I didn't have a chance to respond, as the teacher began to hand out a pop quiz.

I couldn't concentrate. The quiz was asking me to find the zeros of the function using the quadratic formula, and all I could think about was are Emmett and I dating. Needless to say, I definitely failed that quiz.

My day didn't seem to be getting any better. Jessica continued to ask me about Emmett. What he like? What kind of music does he listen to in his car? Why do you have Alice's number? Did you get Emmett's number? The questions were endless.

By the time we were walking to lunch, I had just taken to nodding my head to answer her.

"It is go great that you and Emmett are friends." Jessica said as we walked towards the cafeteria.

"Yea and that's all you'll ever be." I heard behind us. Jessica and I quickly turned around to see Lauren coming up to us. As soon as I saw her face, I looked down at my feet. Her glare said it all.

"Hey Lauren." Jessica said as we waited for her to join us.

"Jessica." She said without looking at her. "It was nice of Emmett to take pity on you and drive you to school Bella." She said still glaring at me. I am not surprised her had already heard the story. I had one class this morning without Jessica, which was enough time for her to tell everyone.

I didn't even bother to answer of correct her, it was so much easier to let her think whatever she wants. Lunch was gonna suck.

"Bella." I heard a voice yell from behind Lauren. I looked up to see Alice and Jasper walking towards us. Alice looked happy. Jasper looked to be in pain.

"Come eat lunch with us." Alice said grabbing my hand and pulling me away from Jessica and Lauren into the cafeteria.

"Those two are awful." She said as we sat at a deserted tabled in the corner pulling me down into the seat next to her.

"Alice, I have to go get food." I said trying to get up.

"No worries Emmett's got it." She said seconds before the chair was pulled out to my right, and Emmett sat down with a tray full of every food the cafeteria offers.

"I hope your eating most of that." I said motioning to the tray.

"Just take whatever you want." He said pushing it towards me, then leaning back into his chair and putting his left arm on back of mine. I reached for a piece of fruit, as Alice clapped both of her hands excitedly.

"Bella, what are you doing today after school?" She asked with a huge smile on her face.

"Probably unpacking." I said taking a bite out of a pear.

"Great you have nothing to do. You should come over today." She replied looking extremely pleased with herself.

"Oh I dunno. I don't want to impose." I said trying to find an out.

"Impose. Bella, you and Emmett are dating. Your practically family, and family can't impose." I turned to look at Emmett waiting for him to correct her, but he just sat there looking at me with a smirk on his face.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to." He said looking at me.

"This isn't optional Bella. And it is so much better than unpacking. Besides I have already seen it happening." Alice said as if it was final.

"Okay, I guess I can stop by." I said shrugging my shoulders.

"Good. Emmett will drive you." Alice said as I looked around the room. The lunch room was a lot quieter than normal, and most eyes where looking at us, although I seemed the be the only one at our table that cared. The heat began to rise to my face as I turned back to my old table. Angela was only one who smiled at me. Jessica was obviously gossiping with the others at the table. And Mike and Lauren were glaring. If looks could kill.

Unable to look at them any longer, I quickly turned back to my table. But I could still feel their eyes burning holes in my back. Alice was talking about all the things she had planned for us today, while Jasper and Emmett sat silently.

"Oh I will tell Esme to make a snack for you." As soon as the words left Alice's mouth, she had my attention.

"Your mother is going to be home?" I asked.

"Yep, and she is so excited to meet you." Alice said. I nodded my head and looked down at my lap. I don't know if I am ready for the meet the parents thing, I don't even know if we are actually dating. By the time the bell rang, I was reeling with this new information.

"Hey you okay?" Emmett asked as we walked to class.

"Yea I'm fine." I replied.

"You don't have to come over if you don't want to. Alice can be a little pushy."

"It's not that."

"What is it then?" He asked. I stopped walking and turned towards him.

"I hate to be this girl...I mean I've never been this girl. But what are we? What are we doing?" I said pointing back and forth between the two of us. "Are we dating? Or hookup? Or hanging out? I just don't know, and I kinda of need to know." I finished hoping that he doesn't think I am crazy or worse clingy. He chuckled and pulled me towards as a deserted hall.

"I thought I was clear, but I guess not." He leaning towards me. He put both hands on my cheeks and pulled my head to look up at him. "Bella, I want to be with you in every sense of the word. I want to date. I want to hang out. And I definitely want to hook up. So I guess I just have to ask you. Will you be my girlfriend?"

My heart sped up as I looked into his gold orbs, and a smile spread across my face as I thought about what he had just asked me. Unable to form words, I nodded my head to give him an answer.

His eyes smiled at me, as he leaned forwards and put his lips on mine. It seems that I have no control when it comes to him, because my hands went to his waist pulling him closer and I opened my mouth inviting him in. His tongue danced with mine for a few seconds before he pulled away. I am sure the sadness I felt was all over my face from his absence.

"If we don't hurry we are going to be late." He said before kissing my pout away and leading me towards class. I am glad he was thinking straight, because class was the last thing on my mind. We entered the class right as the bell rang.

"Will you two take your seats." Mr. Boyle yelled as we entered.

I mumbled a quick apology as I ran towards our desk, careful not to look at Mike or Lauren behind us. The class was spent taking notes in the dark about DNA. Every once in awhile, I would look over at Emmett and smile, which he would return. When class ended, I packed my bag and Emmett walked me to history.

"I see you in gym." He said once we reached to door.

"Okay." I said smiling up at him. I wanted to kiss him again, but I knew that everyone in hall was watching us and I don't want them talking more than they already are. So I turned, walked into the class room and sat next to Alice.

"Told you, you were dating him." She said as our teacher stood to start his lecture. Did Alice see everything that happened in that hallway? Oh that's embarrassing, I thought as the heat began to rise to my face. This has to be a record for the number of times blushing in a day. The rest of the class was uneventful, and before I knew it we were walking towards gym.

Alice and I split from Jasper to head towards the girls locker room to change. Opening my locker which was in the far corner next to Alice's I grabbed my gym clothes, and started to undress. As I put my day clothes in my bag, I heard Lauren's voice.

"I don't know who she thinks she is. She just move here, and all the sudden she is best friends with the Cullens." I didn't have to be told that she was talking about me. She made it quite clear, although I am not sure if she knew that I was in the room. Not that is mattered, she never cared for my feelings before. "And there is no way she is dating Emmett. She is absolutely ordinary. He is going to eventually get bored with her and move on to something better."

I looked down at my feet knowing that this was true. I was ordinary. And I do think that Emmett will get sick of me and move on.

"Hey." Alice said quietly grabbing by attention. "Don't listen to her. She is just a jealous bitch." She grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the locker room right passed Lauren, who made it her job to stare me down as we passed.

Once everyone was changed coach blew the whistle. I looked across the room and saw Emmett talking intently with Jasper.

"This week we are playing volleyball. I have already assigned the teams which will be of four. Team A: Crowley, Larson, Silver, and Cobb. Team B: Cullen, Cullen, Hale, and Roberts. Team C: Tracey, Kelly, Driver, and Mitchell." And that left me with the only people I didn't want to be on a team with. "Team D: Stanley, Newton, Mallory, and Swan." I was on a team with Mike, Jessica, and Lauren, talk about bad luck.

"Team A will play Team B on court one, everyone else is on court two." Coach blew his whistle, and everyone hurried off to there respective courts. Lauren proceeded to ignore me for the rest of the class, until Coach called for two teams to switch sides, which meant we where playing all of the Cullens.

The game was playing out normally, until Lauren ran towards me trying to get the ball knocking me right on my ass.

"You better watch yourself, Bella." She said as she helped me up, grabbing my hand tighter than she should. When it was my turn the serve, Lauren threw the ball at me. Hard.

"Swan," Coach said as I caught the ball. "Why don't you try an overhand serve."

I heard Alice laugh before he could finish the thought.

"Um I don't know if I can do that." I said.

"Just try" was his response. I raised at ball and tossed it in the air with my left hand. Swinging my right as I could, I made contact and sent it flying towards the net. Unfortunately it wasn't high enough. The ball slammed into the back of Lauren's head.

"Oh shit." I whispered as Emmett's booming laughter broke out in the entire gym.

"You Bitch!" Lauren yelled coming towards me.

"It was an accident." I said throwing my hands up in surrender.

"Sure it was." She replied getting in my face.

"Mallory." Coach yelled. "Have a seat." He pointed to the bench. "It was just an accident."

"I'm on to you Bella, and I can't wait until he leaves you." Lauren whispered before she went to the bench. I don't what was more embarrassing the fact that she said it, or the fact that I know Emmett heard. I looked down at the floor as the heat rushed to my cheeks.

"Oh forget it." Coach said before he blew the whistle and told everyone to go home two minutes early. Without looking at anyone, I ran to get my bag and sprinted as fast as I could out the gym.

"Bella." I heard Emmett yell as I left the building. I turned around to find him right behind me in the parking lot, and I am sure my face said it all. "Don't worry about her." He said coming up next to me. "She's just a jealous bitch." He ran his hand along my right cheek.

"That's what Alice said." I looked down at my feet not really believing him.

"Yea well it is true. I am sorry everyone is talking about you, but don't believe them."

"It's hard not to." I whispered as the bell rang.

"Bella," He said causing me to look up at him. Before my brain could even recognize what was happening his mouth was on mine. And this wasn't a chaste kiss. This was savage and wanton. His tongue was in my mouth, and I was loving every minute of it. He hands where on my cheeks pulling my mouth closer, and I was grabbing at the hem of his shirt silently begging him not to leave. The kiss said it all. I was his and he was mine. It was when he pulled away that I realized that we had full on made out in the school parking lot as everyone was leaving.

"Oh my god." I said turning and walking as fast as I could towards his Jeep.

"Maybe that will get everyone to shut the fuck up." Emmett said loudly as he followed behind me.

"No the definitely made it worse." I said as climbed in his truck. Emmett shut the door behind me, and got in on the drivers side.

"I can't believe that just happened." I said as he pulled out of his parking spot.

"I can. And by the way, good job hitting Lauren."

"That was an accident."

"That was karma." Emmett finished as he turned onto the main road.

**Oh I love this chapter. Who doesn't want to make out with Emmett in a parking lot? Anyways, what do you think should happen when Bella goes to Emmett's? Leave me a review and you will get a preview of the family meet and greet. And it will not disappoint. **


	15. Chapter 15

**Okay I have to apologize for the delay. I have been traveling a lot and I am in the process of house hunting. Very Stressful. But here it is.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters belong to SM. No copyright infringement intended. **

As Emmett drove to his house, I saw less and less civilization.

"Where are we going?" I asked looking out the window as the forest got denser and denser.

"We live out in the woods. It allows us to be ourselves without worrying about humans finding out about us." He said looking over at me.

"Are you sure your family is okay with me just dropping by?" I asked again as he drove quickly down the one lane road.

"Bella, it is fine. Alice already called Esme. She is excited to meet you."

"But what about Edward and Rosalie?" I said quietly looking at my lap.

"Are you worried about them?" He asked taking his eyes off the road.

"They are your brother and sister."

"Bella, when your with me you have nothing to worry about. I won't let anything happen to you." He said before he turned back to the road. "Besides they won't be home."

"Where are they?" I asked noticing that I didn't see them at lunch.

"They went to Canada to hunt this morning. Jasper drove Edwards volvo to school."

"Oh." I said feeling relieved. It was nice to know that I didn't have to worry about them showing up, I was already nervous enough as it was. I looked out the window and noticed the trees passing by faster then they were before. As Emmett turned on to a dirt road, I looked over at the speedometer. 60. He was doing 60 on a curvy dirt road that was only wide enough for one truck, and he was accelerating.

"Umm. Emmett." I said reaching for the oh shit handle. "Do you think you could slow down?" He must have looked over and saw the scared look on my face, because he began to slow down immediately.

"Sorry, I love off roading." At hearing the word love pass over his lips, my heart jumped. Knowing Emmett heard, I tried to pass it off as though it was because I was scared of his driving.

"It's okay." I said as we turned on to a gravel driveway. Do I love Emmett? Do I want him to love me? Why else would I have that reaction? Oh God.

"We're here." Emmett said as we pulled up to a large white house. Large didn't even cover it. This had to me the biggest house in a 100 mile radius. It was at least three stories tall, I was unsure if there was a basement, and had a white exterior. Emmett opened my door, and I hopped down on to the circular driveway which was lined with cars. A Porsche. A mercedes. A BMW. The cheapest car here had to be Emmett's Jeep, and something tells me there were modifications made on that.

Emmett grabbed my hand and led me up the steps towards the wooden front door. He turned the knob, and we walked into to a pristine white living room which was lit by the large window that covered the opposite wall.

"Emmett, I was wonder how long you were going to hog Bella." A woman with carmel hair said entering the room. She had to be 5'6 with a slim build, and a heart shaped face that held nothing but kindness. She hugged her son as if she was his actual mother and turned to me.

"And you must be Bella." She said with a smile on her face. I couldn't imagine her acting like the beast Emmett was the night that the wolves surrounded me. Everything about her said she was pure, caring, and sweet.

"It's nice to meet you." I said holding out my right hand for her to shake it. She walked forward, bypassing my hand, and enveloped me in a hug.

"It's wonderful to finally meet you." She said before releasing me.

"You so pretty." She said pulling back smiling. "And you eyes are a very interesting."

"I got them from my mother." I said automatically. I the mention of her, I felt my heart get heavy.

"I am sure she was a wonderful woman." She said backing up. "Well come into the kitchen I made you a snack." She turned around and walked down a hall. Emmett smiled at me as I passed him to follow her. The kitchen was large and white like the rest of the house. I sat at the stool at the island.

"I hope this is okay." Mrs. Cullen said as she handed me a plate with grilled cheese. "It's been a while since I've cooked."

"It's perfectly fine, Mrs. Cullen Thank you." I said taking a bite.

"Oh call me Esme sweetheart." She corrected handing me a glass of water. "So how was you day?"

"Great!" Emmett said while I ate. "Bella tried to decapitate a girl in gym." My eyes widened as I realized what left Emmett's mouth.

"That's not exactly what happened." I replied shaking my head, and looking at Esme. "I hit a girl in the head with a volleyball." I finished hoping she wouldn't think I was an awful person.

"Oh honey, I understand. Emmett only sees what he wants to." She said Alice and Jasper walked in.

"Bella!" Alice yelled as she entered the room. Esme quickly stood and hugged each of them. It was obvious the love she had towards her children. A smile spread across her face as they entered the room. Her hugs were warm and welcoming. You could tell my the looks on her kids faces that it was normal for her to ask about their day. It was normal for her to show this affection towards them. She loved them, and they weren't even hers.

I thought about my relationship with Charlie. I am awful to him. He took me into his home at the drop if a hat, and I repay him by being rude and smashing mirrors. This is not the way my mother raise me to be. This is not the way my mother who greeted me at the door everyday when I came home from school, and who I gossiped with every afternoon raised me to be. My vision began to blur as tears welled in my eyes. I looked up to find Jasper staring at me, while everyone else continued talking.

"Um may I use your bathroom?" I asked looking back down at my plate. I didn't want them to know I was about to breakdown.

"Sure Bella." Esme said. "Down the hall second door on your right." I followed Esme's directions, and quickly entered a pristine white bathroom. Looking at myself in the mirror, some tears spilled over. I had to pull myself together. Turing on the facet, I splashed cool water on my face. The water on my warm face had a calming feeling. I placed some on the back of my neck and took some deep breaths. Knowing if I took to much longer, they would get suspicious. I took a two more deep breaths and opened the door. I was met with Esme's smiling face looking back at me.

"Everything alright?" She asked as I stepped out of the room.

"Yep."

"Good, lets take a walk." She said turning around. Unsure where this was going, I slowly followed Esme through the living room and out the back door. The back yard had a large garden with a path. Esme walked off the porch and down the path, we must of been walking five minutes before sat on a stone bench. I sat down next to her and looked at my lap. Maybe she thinks I'm not good enough for Emmett.

"I just want to be away from prying ears." She said smiling at me. I nodded my head unsure what to say. "So how do you like living in Forks?"

"Um.. It's ok."

"Good, you live with your uncle right?" I nodded my head.

"Charlie's a good man. I have only meet him twice, but I could tell he was a good man." She took a deep breath and continued. "I know that you lost both of your parents."

"Did Emmett tell you?" I asked turning towards her quickly. She shook her head.

"No, that boy is a fortress when it comes to you. All week I asked him about you, and he would tell me was that you are perfect. He didn't tell me, and he won't tell anyone unless you tell him to. I found out from Carlisle. Charlie told him when you where in the hospital."

"Oh ok." I was relieved to hear that Emmett didn't tell her, but I still was afraid of where this conversation was going.

"I just want to let you know. That if you need someone to talk to, or some advice. I'm hear to listen." This woman was extraordinary. She's known me for less than a half hour, and was already offering to fill a maternal void.

"Thank you." I said smiling at her.

"Anytime, now lets get inside before Emmett breaks something trying to get out here." She said standing. I followed Esme back inside. As I walked up the back porch, I saw Emmett standing at the door.

"She's all yours." Esme said giving him a tight smile as she walked away leaving us standing there awkwardly. I looked down at my feet afraid of what Emmett would say. I mean I did almost have a mental breakdown in his house.

"Come on I show you around." Emmett said causing me to look up at him is surprise. The smile on his face told me he wasn't going to push me for information, and I appreciated that.

"After you." I said motioning for him to begin. I followed Emmett throughout the three story house. Once inside I realized that it was bigger than I thought. They had everything from a movie theater to a library complete with wall to wall shelves. Emmett had pointed out each of his siblings rooms and as we climbed the stairs to the third floor, I knew that there was only one room left. Emmett opened the only door in the hall, and allowed me to walk in first.

His bedroom was huge. It had to be the entire floor. Like the rest of the house, the back wall was cover in large windows. The room was painted white with big black leather furniture throughout. A large flat screen TV was mounted on the wall with several gamer consoles on the shelf beneath it. Against the wall where bookshelves full of CDs, records, DVD's, and video games.

"Emmett this room is huge." I said spinning trying to take it all in.

"Yea well since everyone else had ways to occupy their nights, I was given the biggest room." He replied wiggling his eyebrows. I giggled and went to sit on the couch facing the TV across the room. In the blink of an eye, Emmett was next to me.

"So what do you think?" He asked as he stretched his arm behind me on the couch.

"Your house is amazing. It is practically perfect. But everything is so clean and new, I am a little afraid to touch anything." I admitted. "All it would take is for me to trip once, and I am sure I would end up breaking a thousand dollar vase."

"Well we can't have that can we." He laughed as his hand on the couch played with my hair. I looked towards the television and saw every game console ever made.

"Why do you have all of these?" I asked pointing to the TV.

"I have to entertain myself somehow."

"So you use a Sega, and a SuperNintendo? Do those even work?" I asked giggling.

"Hey that is the best way to play Mario brothers and Sonic." He defended.

"I think I was a toddler when people where play those games." I teased.

"I wasn't."

"That's because your an old man."

"Ouch." Emmett said pretending that I hurt him. I laughed and turned my head away from him knowing I was blushing. It was then I noticed something was missing.

"Where's your bed?"

"I told I don't sleep." He answered.

"Yea, but what if you want to lay down."

"I'll lay on the couch." He shrugged then he got an evil glint in his eye. "Trust me, it works perfectly." He continued leaning forward causing me to lean back unit I laying on the couch.

"See." He said as he hovered over me. He tilted his head to the side and began to place soft kisses on my neck. I shivered at the feeling of his cool lip against my neck.

"Em." I said breathlessly. He always seemed to illicit this response from me. He never failed to leave me breathless.

"Hmm." He hummed against my neck causing me to giggle at the sensation.

"Esme's down stairs." I whispered.

"So." He responded as he continued to assault my neck in kisses.

"We shouldn't be.." I lost my train of thought as his tongue ran across my neck. He then blew on the area causing me to moan. Emmett lips instantly when to mine swallowing my moan. I opened my mouth to him allowing him to explore every part of me. I raise my hands and placed them on his back pulling at his shirt.

He was supporting most of his weight on elbows, but he was still directly on top of me. I inched my legs apart to to distribute the weight. Unfortunately, I didn't think it through. My legs ended up on either side of him, as he settled between them. Emmett groaned against my lips as our lower halves came into contact.

That sound and the feel of his chest vibrating against mine cause my body to react in way I wasn't prepared for. I could feel the wetness pooling between my legs, and my hand immediately went to the hem of his shorts slipping under his shirt running them along his ice cold skin. Emmett pulled back and looked me in the eye.

"God your beautiful." He said causing me to blush before he went to kiss the other side of my neck. As his tongue ran against the sensitive skin, I began to get wetter." And you smell amazing."

I felt myself tense as I realized that he could smell me. Emmett's kisses stopped. The heat began to rush to my cheeks and I tried to pull back. But Emmett wasn't having it.

"Don't be embarrassed." He whispered in my ear. "I love that I have this effect on you. That I caused it." He was trying to reassure me, but it wasn't working and he knew it. So he took a different approach. He ground his hips into mine causing me to gasp at the sensation.

"Do you feel that? Do you feel what you do me, beautiful?" He said pushing his erection into to me on more time as I cried out at the pressure. "Only you. Only you could do this to me." He finished before he kissed my neck softly and pulled back to sit up. I sat up on my elbows and looked up at him as he ran his hands over face.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled looking away from him. I had ruined the moment.

"You have no reason to be sorry." He said raising his head.

"If you say so." I said under my breath as I said up and put my feet on the ground.

"Bella," He ran his hand over my cheek forcing me to look at him. "I don't want you to be embarrassed about anything that happens between us. Don't be embarrassed with me. Nothing could happen to make me care about you less."

"That's kinda hard to do." I answered honestly. "You're perfect and I'm fucked up."

"Don't say that about yourself." He said leaning in closer to me. "If someone asked me to describe you in one word it would be perfect." He finished before he lightly touched my lips. As he pulled away, a growl erupted in his chest.

"What?" I asked looking at the stern look on his face.

"Rose and Edward are home early." He said looking me in the eye. I turned to see the digital clock under the TV.

"Oh gosh it's almost 7." I said standing. "Charlie is going to be home in 30 minutes." Knowing that he didn't know that I was coming here, I knew I had to beat him home.

"Come on I'll take you home." Emmett said standing and walking towards the door.

"Um..Emmett." I said not moving a step. "Is there another way out?" I asked.

"Why?"

"Don't Edward and Rosalie hate me." I said looking down at my feet.

"Don't worry about them. Rose is a bitch, and Eddie is a pompous ass. They deserve each other." He said as he pulled me out the room. "Anyways Esme wants to say bye."

When we made it to the man floor, Esme met us at the bottom of the stairs.

"Thank you for having me." I said.

"Come back anytime." She replied giving me a hug.

"What is that good awful smell?" I heard as she released me. I looked over to see Rose reading a magazine and Edward just staring at me. But it wasn't a rude stare, it was a curious one.

"I found it." Rose said plainly as she raised her eyes to mine. I immediately looked down at my feet. Could she smell me too?

"Come one let's go." Emmet said placing his hand on the small of my back and leading me to his car. The drive back to my house was silent as I thought about what had just happened. When we pulled up into the driveway, Charlie's cruiser was already parked. He beat me home.

"Thanks for the ride." I said.

"He's freaking out Bella."

"Who?"

"Charlie. He's calling everyone he knows."

"Oh crap." I finished hopping out of the car. When I made it to the front door, I noticed that Emmett had gotten out too. "What are you doing?" I asked him.

"He is going to want to know who you are spending your time with."

"He doesn't have to know now." I whispered.

"Consider it meet the parents day." He said as the front door opened. We both turned to find Charlie staring directly at Emmett.

"Where have you been?" He asked not really looking at me.

"Um, I am sorry I didn't call you. I was at the Cullen's."

"And Emmett drove you home?"

"Yes sir." Emmett replied with a huge smile on his face as if Charlie wasn't staring him down right now.

"Why was your car here all day?" Charlie continued is inquisition.

"Alice, Jasper, and I drove her to school this morning." Emmett lied smoothly.

"Well thank you for bringing her home, Emmett. I'm sure your mother wants you home for dinner." Charlie said ushering me into the house.

"Goodnight, Chief." Emmett said waving before he went back to his car as Charlie shut the door.

"In the future Bella, please let me know if you aren't coming home." Charlie said walking into the living room.

"I am sorry. It was a spur of the moment decision to go." I said following him.

"So you and Emmett seem to be close." He commented.

"Umm...Well.." I didn't know what to say.

"It's okay. He's a good kid, and the Cullens are good people." He said saving me the embarrassment.

"Charlie." I said. "Thank you for everything. I know that I have been tough to live with, but thank you for putting up me."

"You don't have to thank me. I understand that you have been through a tough time and are doing the best you can." The conversation was getting a little heavy for me.

"Okay well, I am going to go do my homework now." I said walking out the room.

After I had showered, I sat on the bed and began to do the work that had been assigned to me. After an hour, I had finished my history and math homework, and I was working on my english reading.

"Look at you being all studious." Emmett said surprising me. He climbed on the bed next to me and pulled the book out of my hands.

"I'm going to fail because of you." I said smiling at him.

"But it'd be worth it." He replied wiggling his eyebrows then kissing my lips.

"Don't you have homework to do?"

"Bella this is like my twentieth time in high school. I can do my homework in five minutes."

"There's no need to brag." I said before he brought his lips back to mine. I let out a deep yawn as he went to kiss my neck. He reached over, and turned off my bed side lamp. He pulled me into his arms, and kissed the top of my head.

"Go to sleep, beautiful."

**So what do you think? I love how Emmett calls her beautiful? And how about Esme? She is so sweet. Rose not so much. So leave me a review and I will send you a preview of the next chapter. Hopefully it won't take this long next time. **


	16. Chapter 16

**Alright here is the next chapter. I meant to put it up yesterday, RL is kicking my butt. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters belong to SM. No copyright infringement intended. **

(Bpov)

"You said you weren't dating Emmett!" Jessica yelled the next day as we walked to English. Like the day before, Emmett was there to pick me up and drive me to school. He was dead set on me not driving the rusty truck Charlie got me anywhere.

"I didn't think we were." I said shrugging my shoulders. As soon as Jessica saw Emmett pull in to the parking lot, she made a B line for his truck. When he saw her coming, he proceeded to tell me I was on my own, kiss my cheek, and head to class. Bastard.

"Oh please Bella, you two practically made out in front of the entire school yesterday. You're one of my best friends and I feel like you are keeping secrets from me."

"That's probably because I am." I said under my breath.

"What?"

"Nothing." I replied shaking my head.

"Anyways where were you yesterday? Chief called our house asking if you were there. I would have lied for you, but I didn't know where you were." Jessica responded changing the subject. Unfortunately for me, the answer brought Emmett back into the conversation.

"Um I was at the Cullen's." I said quietly.

"You where at their house?" Jessica yelled loudly causing everyone in the hall to stare at us.

"Shhh." I hushed her. "Yes, Alice invited me over." I am trying to give her as little information as possible, but she keeps asking more questions.

"What's it like? No one has ever been there? I hear it's huge?" She asked quickly.

"How do you know it is huge, if no one has ever been there." I replied as we walked into the classroom.

"They're loaded. Of course it's huge." She said taking her seat. Before I was able to answer, Mrs. Kelly stood and began her lecture, well it was more like a grilling. She was pretty much giving a verbal quiz.

"Ms. Swan tell me what role Poverty plays in the novel?" She asked. There were only ten minutes left of class, and I thought I might have been in the clear, but obviously she wasn't going to let me slide.

"Umm...Well...Every character is poor." I said unsure.

"You can do better than that."

"Uh... I don't know." She looked disappointed and shook her head as she went on to explain the how poverty is used in the novel. When the bell rang, I couldn't get out of class fast enough. The rest of the morning, went smoothly, although Jessica wanted to know everything she could about the Cullen house.

"So, your dating Cullen?" Mike asked as we walked to lunch.

"Yea." I said quietly nodding my head.

"I dunno Bella. He's scary looking."

"It's fine Mike." I said huffing because he definitely was not concerned with my well being.

"I just don't want you to get hurt." He shrugged as we stood in line. I didn't respond, I just grabbed a sandwich and a bottle of water moving down the line.

"So where were you last night, Charlie called our house?" He asked as we made it to the cashier.

"I got it." I heard Emmett say behind me as he handed the cashier a ten paying for my lunch.

"You don't have to pay for my food." I said turning to face him.

"But I want too." He smiled looking down at me.

"I can pay for my own lunch. Your not even going to eat any of it." I wined as he reached for his change and grabbed my tray walking towards an empty table. I turned towards Mike and smiled.

"I guess I will see you in Bio." I said turning around to follow Emmett. As I walked across the room, I felt someone staring at me across the room. I looked around and was meet with a pair of golden eyes. Edward was watching me walk towards the table where his brother had set my food as he sat with his wife. I quickened my steps and sat down.

"So how has your day been?" Emmet asked putting his arm behind my chair.

"Fine, but I am kind of mad at you for leaving me with Jessica." He laughed.

"She scares me." He joked.

"She obsessed with you." I replied before taking a bite out of my sandwich. "FYI I told you, you were going to make me fail. I didn't know one answer in English today."

"Alright then after school, we will have a study date at your house." He leaned in and kissed my cheek. I couldn't stop the shiver that spread over my body as his lips touch my cheek.

"Deal." I whispered as Jasper and Alice sat down.

"You two are so cute." Alice said rubbing her hands together. The rest of day went smoothly, although that was probably because Lauren was home sick. Can't wait for her to come back. Emmett as promised had a study date with me until Charlie came home. When Charlie invited him to stay for dinner, he made up a bogus excuse of needing to help Esme with something and went home. And like every night before, he snuck into my room to hold me while I slept.

The next couple of days where uneventful, as the student body got use to the idea of Emmett and I being together. But when Lauren comes back I am sure that she is going to stir the pot. I heard form Jessica that she told her mom she was mending from a broken heart. Bull shit.

"Come on." I said grabbing Emmett's hand pulling him towards the library since we were given a study hall in biology to study for our test. Over the past couple of days we had gotten closer than I ever imagined. Now that everything was in the open and we had nothing to hide, I talked to him about everything. Charlie loved having him around, because I was better to deal with, and he had someone to watch the game and yell at the TV with.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Emmett replied coming up behind me wrapping him arms around my waist.

"I dunno." I said smiling as I waved to the librarian. I picked an aisle of books, and began to walk though them.

"You know I have been thinking." Emmett said behind me as I found the Jane Austen's in the fiction sections.

"What about?" I asked pulling out Emma. This was always one of my favorite books.

"I never really took you out on a date."

"So?"

"I want to, tonight."

"What?" I asked shocked.

"It's Friday, we should go out."

"You don't have to do this." I said looking up at him.

"I want to." He replied running his hand over my cheek and giving me a chaste kiss on the lips. I smiled up at him as he pulled away.

"Okay." I said. He grabbed the book from my hands and I turned to look for the biology section. As I round the corner to enter another aisle, I saw against the far wall an archive of old yearbooks. I walked towards them and began to run my hands along the spine of each book.

"These don't look like science books." Emmett said sneaking up behind me.

"I know there old yearbooks." I said looking for the one I wanted.

"Why are you looking at old yearbooks?"

"My mom went to school here, and I never saw her yearbooks." Because of Emmett, it had become easier to talk about my parents. He was there to listen when I wanted to talk, and didn't push me to share more than I was willing.

"What year did she graduate?" He asked coming up next to me. The books were out of order, and the covers were worn.

"I dunno, late eighties." I said shrugging. "I think she graduated in '88." Emmett immediately reached out and grabbed the 1988 yearbook and handed it to me. It was falling apart. The cover was worn. The green was faded and the silver writing was almost illegible. I held the book close to my chest and walked to a deserted table in the back. Emmett sat next to me as I placed the book in front of us. I could feel my hand shaking as I reached to open the cover. Emmett grabbed my other hand in support, and I turned to look at him.

"I don't know why I'm nervous." I said chuckling trying to ease my nerves. But Emmett knew. Emmett always knew.

"Do you want me to do it?" He asked. He was always trying to make me feel as comfortable as possible. And I know if I told him yes, he would, but I needed to do this. I needed to feel this last connection with her.

"No I can do it, but can you just stay here?" I asked hoping that he would say yes. I know I am strong enough to do this, but I don't know if I am strong enough to do it myself.

"Anything you want." He said nodding. I turned back to the book, and opened the front cover. The pages were yellow and faded. I turned to the table of contents, and found where the listing to seniors started.

The pictures where in black and white and arranged in alphabetical order. When I found hers, my vision began to blur. Her dark hair was poofed up and her bangs where tousled high. Her outfit was horrendous, but she still managed to look beautiful.

"There she is." I said pointing to the picture. Emmett leaned over and kissed my cheek.

"She's beautiful." He said as the bell rang to signal the end of class. "Come on we have to go to our next class." Emmett stood trying to get me to follow him.

"Wait we have five minutes. Let me see if there are any more pictures." I said flipping through the last couple of pages. I stopped when I got to the photos of senior prom. "She was named prom queen." I ran my hand over the photo.

I read the caption below the picture. _Prom king and Queen 1988: Renee Swan and James Atwood. _My eyes bugged out as I reread the text again.

"Bella, what's wrong?" Emmett said leaning down next to me. My breathing quickened as I looked at the smiling face staring back at me in the photo.

"Bella?" I felt as though I was frozen. I was entranced with the happy look in his eyes as he held my mother.

"Bella!" Emmett yelled bringing my attention back to him. I looked into his concerned eyes, and he placed both hands on my cheeks wiping away the tears I didn't know had fallen. "What's wrong beautiful?" He asked staring into my eyes.

"That's...He's..." I said pointing to the picture beginning to hyperventilate.

"Hey, calm down. Everything is okay." He kissed my forehead trying to calm me.

"Emmett that's the guy." I said pulling myself to together.

"What guy?"

"That's the man that attacked me." I whispered afraid of who else could hear. His eyes opened wide as he took in what I had just said. He quickly reached over and shut the book. He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the library into the hall.

"Hey." He said turning towards me, bending down so the he is eye level. "You're okay. Everything is okay. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. " I nodded my head as I tried to take in what he said.

"You're right. I'm okay, just shocked." I told him taking deep breaths.

"Do you want to go home?" He asked.

"No I will be okay."

"You sure? I don't mind taking you home."

"No, let's go to class." He looked into my eyes for a few more seconds, before he turned and walked me to history.

"Emmett, you're going to be late if you walk me." I said.

"Don't care." He said as we got to the door. He turned and wrapped his arms around me. "Text me if you want to leave, and I will be here in a second."

"Stop worrying I am fine, besides Alice and Jasper are in here with me." I smiled at him.

"I am serious text me." He finished before kissing my cheek and running to class.

I walked into the classroom and took my seat.

"Bella, I'm going home with you today." Alice said as I sat.

"Why?"

"To get ready for your date, silly." She smiled.

"How do you know about that?" I asked but she just tapped her head. Right, she can see the future. The professor stood up and began the lecture.

"So I have already seen what Emmett has planned and you are going to love it." Alice said as we walked out of gym towards Emmett'e Jeep.

"Alice will you shut your trap." Emmett said behind us a Jasper laughed. Alice then proceeded to stick her tongue out at him before she jumped in the car. The drive to my house was fast due to Emmett's driving

"Call me if she becomes to much of a pain in the ass." Emmett said as he helped me out of the car.

"I heard that!" Alice yelled.

"Stop worrying." I said for the tenth time today. Ever since the library fiasco, Emmett has been my shadow. He texted me every ten minutes during history.

"Hurry up!" Alice yelled as she stood at my door step.

"I better go." I said kissing Emmett's cheek.

"I'll be here at 7." He said as he got in his car.

After Alice had made me shower, blow dry my hair, and call Charlie, we were sitting in my small bathroom as she did my hair and make-up.

"While you where in the shower, I went through your closet to see what our options are tonight, and I must say we need to go shopping." Alice said as she put foundation of my face.

"Do I have to dress up?" I asked.

"Yes, but don't worry, I did find one fashionable outfit that wasn't casual." She huffed as she went to put on eyeshadow. "I wish Rose was here. She is so much better at makeup then me. She would love this."

"That will never happen. Rose she hates me." I said with my eyes closed as Alice put a nude shadow on my eyelids.

"She doesn't hate you. She just doesn't like change."

"Alice she hates me." I opened my eyes so the she could put on mascara.

"Hate is such a strong word."

"But appropriate." I corrected as Alice went to my hair.

"Bella," Alice said causing me to meet her eyes through the mirror. "You and Rose have more in common than you think."

"What are you talking about?"

"That's her story to tell, but I will admit she has been terrible to you, but it doesn't help that you took Emmett from her."

"How did I take Emmett from her, she has Edward?"

"She and Emmett had a really close bond before he met you, they haven't really talked since."

"Why?"

"Because of the way she treats you."

"If he and Rose were that close, why would he pick me instead of her? I have only known him for two weeks."

"You really don't know how much you mean to him do you?" I blushed as she kneeled down to look me in the eye.

"The fact that he willingly cut out a huge part of his life just to be with you should say it." Alice stood and continued to curl my hair as I thought about the information I had just gained. I would have never known that Emmett and Rose were close based on how they act now.

After another thirty minutes, Alice had finished my hair and was leading me to back towards my bedroom. As I walked in, a beige dress with a black umpire waist was laying on the bed.

"This was my mother's." I said running my hands over the fabric.

"Well she had great taste." Alice replied as she left to allow me to change.

"That she did." I quickly changed into the dress that was open in the back, and slipped on the black pumps that Alice had left me.

"Alice, how did you now my size?" I asked as I came down the stairs.

"Alice already left." Emmett said as he gave me his hand to help me down the stairs. "You look amazing."

"I could say the same about you." He was wearing a simple pair of charcoal dress pants with matching vest and a gray button down. He looked perfect. He leaned down softly placed his lips on mine. The added height of the heels allowed me to wrap my arms around his neck and pull him in closer. I felt his cool tongue against my lips and I opened my mouth to welcome it. But all to soon he pulled away.

"If we keep this up we will never make it." Emmett said as he stepped back. "Come on, let's go." He said holding out his arm to me.

"On one condition."

"What's that?"

"You have to help me, because Alice put me in these death traps." I said pointing to my feet.

"I won't let you fall, Bella." I took his hand, and we went out to the car. He drove to Port Angeles as we made small talk along the way, never really letting on what he had planned for the night. When we pulled up to a fancy restaurant, I turned to look at him.

"Why are we here? You don't even eat."

"But you do?" He said getting out of the car, and opening my door.

"You don't have to do this." I said as we walked towards the hostess.

"I want too."

"How many?" The hostess asked clearly staring at Emmett and to be honest I can't blame her.

"We have a reservation under Cullen." He said smiling at her.

"Ah yes, follow me." She said grabbing some menus and leading us to our tables. I didn't miss the extra sashay she added into her hips as she walked in front of us. "Your waitress will be with you shortly." She said placing our menus at the table and winking at Emmett.

Emmett held out a chair for me, and pushed it in as I sat.

"Who says chivalry is dead." I joked as he sat across from me.

"Hi, my name is Nicole and I will be your server tonight." Our waitress said as she batted her eyelashes at Emmett causing me to roll my eyes. "Can I interest you in an appetizer?"

"Bella?" Emmett asked me forcing the waitress to turn to me with a huff.

"No, I think we're ready to order." I said glancing at the menu, and ordering the first thing a saw. The less I had to see of her the better. "Can I have the grilled salmon?"

"And how about you?" She asked Emmett with the smile returning to her face.

"I'll have the prime rib." Emmett said handing her his menu.

"So Alice brought something to light today." I said after the waitress walked away.

"Or really what's that?" He asked with a smile on his face.

"Emmett I didn't know that you and Rose were so close before you met me?"

"Bella." Emmett protested.

"No seriously. I kinda feel bad that I ruined that."

"Bella." He said taking my hand across the table. "You didn't ruin anything. Rose has always been a bitch, I just never had a reason to say anything. Anyways she always saw her self as a parental figure to me."

"Oh."

"She's always wanted kids, and I guess since she found me, she tried to take that role."

"But Esme found you too."

"Yea and she's better at it." I laughed as the waitress brought us glasses of water.

"She also mentioned that we have a lot in comment." I said as Nicole walked away.

"You and I?"

"No Rose and I."

"You do." He said

"How?"

"That's not my story to tell." He said shaking his head.

"You sound like Alice."

"I'm sorry, but that is just to personal to tell."

"I get it." I said as our food arrived. We ate talking about the nothing and everything. When the check arrived, I saw a small note sticking out with Nicole's names on it. It was obviously her number, but Emmett being a gentleman just shoved some bills in the sleeve and stood.

"You ready to go?" I nodded and stood. He walked me to his Jeep. Looking at the clock, I saw it was already 10.

"Did Charlie say what time he wanted you home?" Emmett asked backing out of the parking lot.

"No."

"Well I guess to stay on his good side, we are going back to your house."

"Are you afraid of Charlie?" I asked smiling at the thought.

"No, but I do want him to like me. It would make this," He said pointed back and forth between us. "so much easier." I laughed as we drove back to Forks.

"Goodnight." I smiled as we stood on the porch where we had spent the last ten minutes trying to say bye to each other. Emmett leaned in and lightly kissed my cheek.

"Leave your window open, this isn't over yet." He finished before he pulled back smiling, and turned to walk to his car.

"How was your night out?" Charlie asked when I walked inside.

"Good."

"So it was just you and Emmett?"

"Were you spying out the window?" I asked in return as I went to get a glass of water.

"I was just checking." He shrugged and I laughed to myself. My relationship with Charlie had gotten better since my visit on Monday with the Cullens. We even had a little heart to heart when he got home on Wednesday. I try not to blame him for being out of my life all of those years, and he now understands that he doesn't know me, but is willing to try.

"If you say so." I joked taking my glass and walking towards the stairs.

"Bella." I turned to face him. "You look beautiful. Emmett is a lucky man."

"Thanks." I said squinting my eyes at him. "I am going upstairs." I added as I climbed the steps. My room was empty, so I slipped off my heels, grabbed my pajamas, and went to wash my face. As I looked at myself int he mirror Charlie had recently replaced, I actually liked what I saw. Not the me with a face full of make up and in a fancy dress, the girl staring back at me with a smile on her face and a glint in her eye.

After I had a clean face and changed, I walked slowly back into my room with my dress slung over my shoulder. Walking toward the hamper, I read the cleaning instructions. I groaned when I realized it had to be dry cleaned. Before I had time to drop it into the hamper, I was enveloped in two big arms. Dropping the dress on the floor, I leaned back into his embrace resting my head on his chest as a smile spread across my face.

"You know I have to agree with Charlie." Emmett whispered in my ear before he took advantage of my head position and began to lightly kiss my neck.

"What are you talking about?" I asked closing my eyes. I loved the feeling of his body against mine.

"I'm one lucky guy." He said as he nipped the skin at the nape of my neck causing me to gasp. Unable to take his teasing any longer, I turned to face him. His lips immediately met mine, and I melted into his embrace grabbing at the sides of his shirt trying to pull him closer. Emmett seeming to know what I needed, lowered his hands to my ass and lifted me up as I wrapped my legs around him. I brought my arms around his neck as I opened my mouth to him. Emmett began to walk backwards until I felt the bed hit my back as he laid me down and stood.

"I hate this thing." He said with a boyish grin on his face as he unbuttoned his vest and threw it on the floor. I giggled as he placed both of his hands on either side of me and leaned down. When his lips met mine, I ran my hands up his arms relishing in his strength. Grabbing his biceps, I inched up the bed pulling him with me until we were laying down completely. I spread my legs allowing him to seat himself between them as he dropped to his elbows.

When I needed air, I turned my head away gasping, but Emmett was relentless. He continued to kiss down my neck, as his right hand slowly traveled from my waist up towards my breast. Was this to fast, I thought. Do I really want to do this? We have never really gone this far. All questions left my mind, as I felt his thumb run over my cloth covered nipple.

"Oh god." I gasped at the feeling as he chuckled into my shoulder. The wetness pooled between my legs, as his lips returned to mine, and he squeezed my breast. Needing more, I began to sit up as we continued to kiss. I pulled back and looked in to his eyes. They were almost black with lust and want. Getting some courage, I reached for the top button of his shirt. As I unbuttoned his shirt, I stared into his eyes waiting for him to tell me to stop or that it was becoming to much, but there was nothing but lust behind them. Once I had reached his belt, I untucked his shirt, and pushed it on off his shoulders.

My breathing hitched as I saw him shirtless for the first time. His chest was wide and broad. His stomach was ripped to the point were he had the V that led down into this pants. I leaned forward and placed a small kiss in the center of his chest as I looked up at him through my eyelashes. He groaned when I let my tongue run across his skin. I leaned back quickly afraid that I had pushed him to far, but his eyes were closed and a small smile played at his lips.

He slowly opened his eyes, and I reached down to the hem of my tank top. His eyes got impossibly darker as I pulled off my shirt exposing myself to him. It was barely out of my hands, before a growl erupted from Emmett and he was on top of me again kissing my collar bone as he hands roamed my waist.

"Your beautiful." He said against my skin. I moaned as his cool tongue grazed over the soft warm skin of my left nipple as his hands lightly squeezed the right. I closed my eyes loving the feeling he was giving me. Every time his teeth would nip at the skin I saw stars. He brought his lips back up to mine as his hand began to travel south.

"Tell me to stop and I will." He said as he reached the waistband of my shorts.

"Please don't stop." I whispered before his hand slipped under the cloth and into my thong.

"Ohh." I moan quietly as one of his fingers touched my clit applying pressure, and began to rub in circles. I shut my eyes tightly, as he began to move faster. I could feel a finger begin to tease my entrance as he leaned forward and kissed me.

"Are you a virgin, Bella?" I shook my head no, unable to form words. Instantly his finger entered me and I gasped.

"Oh, Em." His assault on me was relentless. His pace on my clit was inhuman as he added another finger inside of me. I felt the bed dip as he leaned over and whispered in my ear.

"You are so beautiful like this." My breathing was ragged and I was biting my lip to stay silent as I got closer to the edge. "You're perfect." He added more pressure to my numb, and I fell over the edge.

"Uhh" Was all I could get out before his mouth was on mine swallowing my moans. He allowed me to ride out my orgasm as his tongue explored my mouth. My eyes were closed as I came down from my high and Emmett removed his fingers from my pants. When I opened my eyes, I saw Emmett pulling his fingers from his mouth. He leaned down and place small kisses on my cheeks as my hands roamed over his chest down to his belt.

"Bella." Emmett said in a stained voice as I began to undo his belt. "You don't have to do this. Tonight was about you." He was trying to me nice, but I could feel him pressing against my leg so I knew he needed release.

Moving my hand back up, I pushed on his shoulder asking him to roll over. He complied, and stood up on my knees and straddled him. Inching back until I was over his knees. I continued to unbutton his pants. Grabbing his boxers with them, he lifted up his waist allowing me to pull them down. My eyes widened as he sprung free. Emmett was proportional. Everything about him was big. Not wanting to keep him waiting any longer, I gripped the base of him.

He hissed at the contact as I brought my hand up to the head twisting my wrist along the way. I watched as the white liquid seeped out of the slit at the top. Curiosity getting the best of me, I leaned forward to taste it as brought my hand back down. Emmett groaned as the tip of my tongue touched the cool creamy liquid.

He tasted amazing. It wasn't the salty taste I was use to, this was sweet. Wanting more I sucked the head into my mouth and circled it with my tongue. Bringing my hand up to my mouth, I spread the moisture down to the base of him, and pulled back to look at him. I had to make sure that he was enjoying this. He had to enjoy this. Emmett's eyes were hooded, and his hands were gripping at my sheets tightly.

"That feels so good." He groaned probably knowing I needed reassurance. Leaning back down, I sucked him as far in my mouth as he could fit, which wasn't far, as my hand continued to work the rest of him. When my teeth accidentally ran across the underside of him as I pulled back, I tensed afraid I had hurt him.

"Fuck." He hissed as his hips raised slightly off the mattress proving me wrong. I continued my rhythm, circling my tongue around the head as I came to the top.

"Bella, I'm going to.." I heard Emmett say alerting me he was about to finish, so I sucked harder trying to bring in as much as possible.

"Bella, move." He said surprising me, I thought this is what all guys expected. I felt his hand on my shoulder pulling me off of him with a pop as he grabbed the shirt he had been wearing and released into it. I watched in awe as a euphoric look came across his face.

When he was through, he cleaned him self off, pulled up his boxer, and pulled off his pants laying back into the pillows. I crawled up next to him and laid in his arms as he kissed the top of my head. Resting my head on his cool smooth chest, my eyes began to close and I wrapped my arms around him.

"Go to sleep beautiful. I will return the favor later." He whispered.

"Technically, I returned the favor." I mumbled.

"Yea but that wasn't an even exchange." He said as my eyes shut. As soon as they closed, I saw the prom picture from the yearbook. Pulling Emmett closer, I tried to ignore all the questions floating in my head. He didn't need to worry about me any more than he already does.

**So what do you think? A lot happened in this chapter huh? Bella is going to have to learn more about her mothers past than she wants to know. And know you have a little bit of a better understanding of why Rose treats Bella the way she does. You also got 1500 words of smut. So let me know what you think and I will send a preview of the next chapter. (FYI I am sorry if I missed some mistakes, FF kept cutting out on me as I edited. So let me know and I will fix them.)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Wow I never expected to make it over 200 reviews! thanks guys. And I am glad I shocked you all with the yearbook picture that was the plan.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters belong to SM. NO copyright infringement intended. **

(Empov)

I lay here holding Bella as both of our naked torso's lay flesh against each other. Tonight was perfect, but I shouldn't be surprised everything about Bella was perfect. The date had gone seamlessly minus Alice making Bella feel like shit for ruining my relationship with Rosalie. Yea, she and I will be having a talk later. And although, I didn't plan for the night to end as it did, it couldn't have been better.

I inhaled deeply as the smell of her arousal still hung in the air. I could feel my dick swell as I remembered her taste. The sounds she made as my fingers brought her to the brink of ecstasy. We were lucky that Charlie didn't hear, Bella is not exactly quiet, not that I mind. And when she took me into her mouth, I had to do everything I could not fuck her mouth senseless. Hell, I ripped her sheets trying to hold myself back. She was amazing. The right amount of pressure and suction, and good Lord her tongue. My erection was becoming painful, but I wasn't about to whack one off to a sleeping Bella.

As I looked down at my little friend who was trying to make an appearance, I tried to will it away, but the vision of Bella on her knees with her mouth wrapped around me flew into my head. Not helping. Now that I think about it, she did seem a little hesitant during the act. Based on her skills, it obviously wasn't her first time. I wasn't even surprised that she wasn't a virgin, given that she had dated her old boyfriend for over a year, and from what she had told me he was older than her. But now I wonder if he had pressured her into anything.

My fist clenched at the thought. But when I think back over the last week, I knew it was true. She said he broke up with her because she wouldn't give him what he wanted. The way she had tensed when her teeth grazed over me. She thought she had hurt me. And she had clearly felt obligated to have me finish in her mouth. And I would have if the look on her face wasn't so...studied. I wanted her to get pleasure from pleasing me, not feel compelled to do so.

With this new information, I knew I had to be careful with her. I didn't want her to think that she had to do anything to keep me happy. I would be happy standing in her shadow. I heard Bella's heart begin to accelerate.

"No." She mumbled pulling me closer to her. "Please no." Her voice was high pitched and strained. She was scared. I wrapped my arms tightly around her, to let her know she was not alone.

"Shh. You're okay." I whispered into her hair, but it did no good. She began to thrash her head back and forth. I pushed her away from me to ensure that she wouldn't hurt herself by hitting her head on my stone cold frame.

"Please leave her alone." She moaned as the sweat began to seep through her pores. I should known this happen after she saw that photo. After she had told me everything, I had done my research trying to get as much information on this sick bastard as possible. I knew he was being held in a high security federal prison in the middle of the dessert in Arizona. I knew that he had been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder ten years before he had attacked Bella. I even knew that he was allergic to peanuts. How had I missed that he went to Forks High school? How had I missed the relationship with her mother?

"Em." She mumbled causing me to pull her closer to me running my hand back and forth on her back.

"I'm here." I said quietly trying to reassure her. Reaching for the floor with the arm the wasn't holding Bella, I grabbed my phone and dialed Jasper's number.

"I told you you'd get bored watching her sleep." Jasper answered laughing.

"Not even close." I replied to low for Bella to hear although I am sure she could feel the vibrations in my chest against her cheek. This had to be quick.

"What's up?"

"You still have that private investigator friend of yours right?"

"I wouldn't call him a friend, but what do you need?"

"I need a complete background on a guy named James Atwood."

"James Atwood? Who is he?"

"Doesn't matter just get me the information." I hadn't told anyone but Carlisle the story of Bella's past. It wasn't their business.

"Ok boss." He joked before he hung up. I spent the rest on the night holding Bella awaiting Jasper's call.

By the time it was eleven in the morning, I was getting antsy. Did I tire her out this much? She had been sleeping for over ten hours. Granted it wasn't a completely peaceful sleep, but still she never sleeps this long. I wanted her to wake up.

"Wakey, Wakey" I cooed in Bella's ear quietly hoping to ease her out of sleep. Her heart rate sped up slightly, and her eyes opened barely. She yawned as her arms stretched above her head and arched her back. My eyes immediately went to her naked uncovered breasts. Arching her back like that was as if she was offering them to me on a platter, and Bella was turning out to be my favorite meal. My body began to react as I drank in the view in front of me, and I was about to lean over and give into my desire to run my tongue across her pink nipple, but a look of shock crossed her face before I had a chance to move. Her hand instantly grabbed the sheet that pooled at her waist and pulled it up to cover herself. I had to chuckle, she had been half naked for the past ten hours, and now she decided to cover herself. I guess it would be a bad idea to tell her I can see through the sheet.

"Excuse me." Bella said as she hopped over me off the bed. Grabbing a tank top on her way out, she ran to the bathroom taking the sheet with her. I looking down at my straining member, I shook my head. No now buddy, I thought as I went to grab my pants, and put on my wrinkled shit.

By the time she had returned, we were both fully dressed. I walked up next to her, and put both of my hands on her cheeks. Leaning down I lightly brushed my lips against hers, and inhaled her sweet scent. Those three words almost slipped out of my mouth, but I caught them before they passed over my lips. She wasn't ready for that yet.

"Get dress. I will be here to pick you up in hour, I want to take you somewhere." I said as I pulled back. In all honesty, we needed to talk. After her nightmare, I knew this James thing was bothering her more than she let on, and I was curious about the way her old boyfriend treated her.

"Okay, where are we going?" She asked looking up into my eyes through her eyelashes, and once again little Em tried to stand at attention. Oh fuck, this is going to be harder than I thought. Ever since my first kiss with Bella a week ago, my body has been showing every sign of wanting to claim her.

"Off roading." I replied smiling down at her. "So dress comfortably." I leaned down and kissed her cheek, before I was out the window, sprinting into the words to where I store my car. Since I had been spending a lot of time at Bella's, I had taken to parking the Jeep in the middle of the woods so no one would find it. It allowed me to return to her faster.

Hopping in the Jeep, I took off towards home. I groaned when I saw Rosalie and Edward's cars in the drive way. In hopes to avoid them, I climbed a tree and entered the house though my open bedroom window. Going straight into my bathroom, I took a quick shower sadly washing Bella's scent off of me.

"Normal people use doors." Alice said as I walked out the bathroom with a towel around my waist. Should have known she would see I wanted to be left alone, and decided to bother me anyway.

"Yea well nothing about us is normal." I replied walking towards my closet. After I I had changed into new pair of jeans, I threw on a black tee and walked out. And to my luck Alice was still there.

"What Alice?" I asked grabbing my keys. I still wasn't too happy with her.

"Em, just don't push her to tell you everything at once." I turned to face her.

"When have I ever pushed?" I asked.

"You haven't but I am just warning you."

"Fine. Where's Jasper?" I asked hoping he would have some information for me.

"He went to Seattle to get what you asked for. Emmett I can't see what is going to happen, but I do know that Bella is going to dig for information. I will warn you if it is going to be bad, but I am kinda running blind here."

"I figured she was going to try and get answers. That's why I am trying to get them first."

"Today will be good for you."

"I hope so." I said grabbing a jacket incase Bella got cold.

"Do you want to hear something funny?"

"I always want to hear something funny."

"Edward can't read Bella's mind. He's been trying all week. It's driving him crazy." She laughed. And I had to laugh with her, anything that frustrates Eddie is hilarious.

"Well I guess I will bring her around more often." I said before I jumped back out the window.

"Have fun!" Alice yelled as I ran to my Jeep. The drive to Bella's was quick, and when I pulled up I couldn't help up ease drop on the conversation.

"Charlie," Bella asked. "How well did you know my mother?" I heard the clinking of dishes, they were in obviously in the kitchen eating lunch.

"Uhh. I can't say I knew her well Bells."

"Did you go to school with her?" She ask trying to get the information she desperately wanted.

"Nope. I am six years older than her. We never talked much, and that I regret."

"Do you know why she left Forks?"

"Nope. One day she was here, the next she was gone." Once I had realized that Charlie had no real information to offer, I got out the Jeep and rang the doorbell.

"Emmett, to what do we owe this surprise?" Charlie said with a knowing smile as he opened the door.

"How are you doing Chief?" I asked stepping in the hallway.

"Great, son. You?" He asked patting my back. I saw him wince out the corner of my eye when his hand connected.

"Never better." I replied as I watched Bella round the corner in a jean skirt. I groaned as I felt myself strain against my pants.

"You ready?" I asked trying to move Bella along.

"Yep, Bye Charlie." She said passing me walking towards the truck.

"Bye, sir." I added as it turned to follow her trying no to stare at her ass in that skirt.

"So where are we going?" She asked as I backed out of her driveway.

"I told you off roading." I replied as she reached out to grab my hand. I turned to her and smiled. Earlier this week, she would not have had the guts to do that. She was getting comfortable with me. She shifted in her seat and my eyes immediately went to those damn shorts. This was going to be a long day. We drove in silence as I lead us further into the woods. When I saw the pavement began to turn to dirt, I pulled over.

"Is this where you wanted to take me?" She asked as I unbuckled my seat belt.

"Nope." I said reaching over to unbuckle hers. "But you do need to change seat belts?"

"What?" I reached over and began to put fasten the off roading seat belt at vampire speed that I had installed for her safety two days ago.

"What the hell this?" She said as I leaned back looking at my handy work.

"It's to keep you safe."

"I feel like I am getting ready to jump out of a plane." I laughed at her comment as I started the car and gunned it. Bella immediately grabbed her seat and her eyes bugged out.

"Why..aren't you...wearing a... seatbelt?" She asked struggling to speak as I drove over broken branches.

"Because I am indescribable."

"How much...further?" She asked after a couple minutes.

"Two minutes." I replied as I watched her grip tighten. Maybe this was scaring her.

When we pulled up to the small pond in the middle of the woods, I parked the car and got out quickly to unbuckle Bella.

"You okay?" I asked once I had her safely on the ground.

"Yea, but that was a rough ride."

"I could have ran us here?" I countered.

"I'm glad you drove." She said patting my chest and walking past me.

"Emmett, this place it beautiful." She said walking past me. I had to agree with her. This was one of my favorite places to go. The sound of the water was calming, and on a semi-sunny day's like this the light broke through the trees perfectly.

"Why did you bring me here?" She asked turning to face me. Her brown hair caught in the sunlight reflecting hues of red. She was gorgeous and she didn't even know it.

"I come here to think." I said turning around to open the trunk. Pulling out a blanket, I sat in the car and patted the spot next to me. Bella walked over the me, and sat in the trunk next to me with her feet dangling.

"What do you come here to think about?" She asked looking at me.

"Anything. Everything. It is just nice to get away from the mind reader."

"I bet. I would hate to have someone in my mind all the time."

"Well apparently you don't have to worry about it."

"What?"

"Alice said Edward can't read your mind, and he has been trying all week." I laughed once again at the idea of a pissed off Edward.

"That's why he has been staring at me." She said to herself.

"He's been staring at you?" I asked wonder why this is the first time I had heard this.

"Yea, I thought is was because he hated me." She shrugged as if it was nothing but I knew it bothered her.

"I could have made him stop." I said leaning into her.

"I've already caused enough problems for your family." She looked down at her lap.

"You have not caused any trouble." I replied.

"Don't lie, Emmett."

"You are not the cause, Edward and Rose are." I clarified. She huffed and looked out to the water. I brought her out her to talk about things that had been bothering me, and I didn't know how to begin. Taking a deep unnecessary breath, I just decided to go for it.

"Bella, will you tell me about you last boyfriend?" I asked hoping that would get me the information I wanted.

"What do you want to know? I mean, you know we dated for over a year. He was two years older than me."

"Not that." I said realizing I was just going to have to come out and say it.

"Are you asking because I am not a virgin?" She interrupted.

"Kinda. Although I kinda suspected you weren't." Silence filled that air, as she looked everywhere but me. I was about to say she didn't have to tell me, before she huffed and spoke.

"To be honest, I didn't want to lose it. He was older, and I gave into the whole peer pressure thing. I just figured if I didn't do it, he would find someone else who would." She looked down at her lap as if she was ashamed. "It's not really a moment I am proud of."

I didn't know what to say. I mean everyone falls for peer pressure, but she was already beating herself up so much over it that that would mean nothing to her.

"I had slept with him about week before...you know. So that was the real reason he broke up with me, I wouldn't sleep with him again."

"He's a dick." I commented to let her know I wasn't judging her.

"That's not what I thought at the time." She continued still not looking at me. "I tried to appease him in other ways, but it didn't..fulfill him, and there where consequences for that."

"Did he ever hit you?" I said threw my teeth wonder how many Ryan's there were in Phoenix. If I needed to, I would kill them all.

"No. He just yelled...a lot."

"Bella." I said raising my hand to her chin forcing her to to look at me. "You know I would never force you to do anything right."

"I know." She said nodding her head. I leaned in and put my forehead to hers taking a deep breath.

"Bella can you do me a favor?" I whispered as if it was a secret.

"What's that?"

"I know you are going to look into this yearbook thing with your mom, but will you just let me be with you when you do it. You don't have to do this alone, nor do I want you too."

She nodded her head as she leaned in to kiss my lips. Her warmth spread like a fire over me. When she pulled back, it was too soon. I wanted to pull her back, but given our recent subject, I knew not to.

"Have you ever gone swimming out here?" She asked looking into my eyes.

"Yea. The water isn't really that deep."

"Do you think we could when the weather get's warmer?" I couldn't stop the smile from spreading across my face. She was making plans for our future.

"We can do what ever you want." I replied wrapping my arms around her. I loved to feel the heat her body emitted. It reminded me she was alive.

As the sun came over the clearing in the trees, it warmed up the truck. I heard Bella gasp as the light hit my pale skin. She grabbed my hand maneuvering it in the light watching the shimmery glint on my skin. I looked down and saw the fascination in her face.

"You weren't joking?" She said quietly still looking at my hand.

"You thought I was?"

"I dunno. I guess you don't believe it till you see it." She said bringing her eyes up to mine. "Does it hurt?"

"No." I shook my head. "You just feel warmth." She leaned back into my embrace not releasing my hand. I listened to the rustle of trees as animals moved throughout the forest. There was never a more prefect moment than this. Being in the woods, holding my Bella.

"Emmett." She said of after a couple of minutes. "I'm scared." I eyes turned down to her faster then I even thought possible.

"Of what?" I said hugging her close to me as I took in the atmosphere around us searching for danger.

"Of what I am going to find. I talked to Charlie this morning. He didn't really even know my mother, and they grew up together. It is like this part of her life vanished. She never really talked about Forks other than to say that it's where she grew up." That was hard to hear. I can protect her from a lot things, but her mother's past wasn't one of them. I looked down to find her staring up at me.

"I will be with you every step of the way, beautiful. You won't be alone." I tried to reassure her.

"Why are you so perfect?" She asked looking up at me.

"I'm far from perfect although I am glad you think so." I replied kissing the top of her head.

"Yea, me and the rest of the female population of Forks."

"Lucky for you." I said bringing her face up to mine. "I only care about one female in Forks." I pressed my lips lightly to hers letting her know she was it for me. Not wanting to push her, I began to pull back, but Bella raised her hands to my cheeks stopping me. I felt her mouth open, and I plunged my tongue inside of her. Bella raised up to her knees, and moved closer to me. Within seconds she was straddling me seated in my lap. She turned her head to the side when she needed air, and I went to attack one of my favorite places. Her pulse point.

The fact that she trusted me enough to allow me to get close to the very place that I could kill her, set my body on fire. I ran my cool tongue against the small film of skin separating her artery from me. I felt the blood flowing through her. I felt the pulse of her heart beat. Why I don't feel the need to bite, I will never know, but I am thankful for it. I took a deep breath to blow air on the skin my tongue had recently touched, and was assaulted with her sweet arousal. I growled at the scent. Bella hearing this, pulled my face up the hers and pressed herself into my erection.

"Did you wear this to tease me?" I asked against her lips as I ran my hands across the hem of her skirt, before slipping them underneath grabbing her thighs. She moaned at the contact pressing herself into me once again.

"Em, Please." She said breathlessly in between kisses.

"What do you want Bella?" I asked trying to get her to say it. I knew what she wanted, and I wanted to give it to her. But I needed to here her say it.

"Touch me." She whispered. As if on command, I moved her panties to the side and plunged two fingers into her.

"Fuck." Was all I could say as I felt her heat and wetness surround me. I set a fast pace wanting her to get her release quickly.

"Oh God." She said as she rested her head in the crook of my neck. I could feel her walls clench as she got closer to the edge. Her hips began to move in time with fingers causing her to graze over my cock. Using her head position to my advantage, I went back to my favorite spot. I placed soft kisses along neck, as I felt her heavy breathing on mine. As soon as I ran my tongue along her neck, she gave in to her release.

"Emmett." The sound of her moaning my name went straight to my cock. After she had ridden out her orgasm, I pulled my fingers out and brought them to my mouth. And just like last night, she tasted heavenly.

"That's the second time, I have only gotten to taste you off my fingers." I said as she rested her head on my shoulder trying to catch her breath. "We're still not even."

I laid back bringing her with me rubbing small circles on her back. After a couple of hours of cuddling with our clothes on, the sun began to set. Knowing that I should get Bella home, I harnessed her into the truck once again and drove back. As I kissed her goodnight at the doorstep, I felt my phone vibrate. After I promised to return, I walked back to my truck and pulled out my phone.

"What's up?"

"I got the information you wanted." Jasper replied.

**Hmm, I wonder what Jasper found. And I know a lot of you were shocked that Bella wasn't a virgin, I hope this shed some light on why that was. So leave me a review, and I will send you a preview. **


	18. Chapter 18

**Alright, this isn't my best chapter. To be honest, I have kind of lost the inspiration, and I am desperately grasping to hold on to it. But I powered through to get you this chapter quickly. Also come join me on twitter (ZoeRoeFF)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters belong to SM. NO copyright infringement intended. **

(Bpov)

James Atwood was a mystery. All Sunday afternoon I was at the Cullens googling the man I never wanted to see again, and studying for my Bio test. I found it was hard to find any real information on his life before Phoenix other than date of birth and his parents names. I wanted to know who is friends where. I wanted to know what he did in his free time. And most importantly I wanted to know is relationship with my mother.

The small town atmosphere was working against me. Nothing was on the internet. The Fork's newspaper didn't go viral until 1999 and even then they didn't bother archiving any old editions. I put myself through the torture of reading the articles in the Phoenix newspapers that I had avoided for the last few months about the attack hoping that they would have found information, but even they found nothing on his past.

"You ready?" Emmett asked pushing my hair out of my face as we leaned against his car Monday morning in the school parking lot. I nodded my head, and walked towards the building that seem to hold all the answers for me but was unwilling to reveal them. All day yesterday Emmett dealt with my mood swings. The grief of reliving the worst day of my life with every article I read. The frustration of searching so hard with no reward. He was there.

"Bella." Jessica yelled running over to us.

"Don't even think about leaving me." I said to Emmett before he had a chance to run in the opposite direction.

"Wouldn't dream of it." He responded wrapping his arm around my waist as we turned to face Jessica.

"Hi Emmett." She said smiling at she approached.

"Jessica." He responded with no inflection in his voice.

"So what you do this weekend?" She asked me as we all turned to walk towards the building.

"Not much." I said as I watched her try and make eye contact with everyone in the hall. She wanted everyone to know that she was walking with a Cullen.

"What about you Emmett. What did you do this weekend?" She asked louder than necessary.

"Bella." He responded causing me to go beet red, and for my eyes to bug out as I turned to look at him. He had a cocky smirk on his face as he looked over at me to Jessica. I quickly turned my head to look at Jessica who had a smile on her face as if she hit the gossip goldmine.

"He's kidding." I said shaking head. I would die if that got all over school. "Right Emmett?" I turned back to him urging him to agree with me.

"Right." He said smiling down at me. Immediately Jessica let out the loudest laugh ever.

"Oh my gosh. Emmett your so funny." She said throwing her head back causing me to roll my eyes as we continued to walk towards class.

"Well my class is down this way so I will see you later." Emmett said before he kissed my cheek. "Bye Jessica." He concluded walking away.

"God Bella. He is so hot." Jessica said as she watched his retreating form.

"Don't worry. He knows." I responded as was continued to English.

"Lauren is back."

"What?"

"Lauren is back at school today." Jessica answered as we sat in our seats.

"Great." I responded pulling out our English books.

"All right class today we are going to discuss the mind of a criminal." Mrs. Kelly said standing up. Can't say I am pumped for this one, but at least I had done the reading this time. As she began talking about the motive to commit a crime, I applied it to my own life. Now that this new piece of the puzzle had come to light, I knew that James Atwood wasn't just crazy. I knew that he didn't pick our house at random like we thought. There was a method to his madness, and I had to know it. And the library was my next step.

I raised my hand and asked to go to the bathroom when Mrs. Kelly called on me. Knowing my time was limited, I walked briskly towards the library, and found the yearbook section. Pulling the 1988 book and sitting at the table, I looked at my watch. I have a maybe 3 minutes before I should go back to class. Opening the book, I began scanning to pages for his name, pictures, anything I could find.

As I was going through the line up of the senior class, something unexpected caught my eye. Jennifer Stanley. She was in the same graduating class as my mother and James. Closing the book, and placing it one the shelf, I walked out of the library.

"Going somewhere?" I jumped and turned to see Alice standing against the wall staring at me.

"God Alice you scared me." I said putting my hand over my heart. "I am on my way back to class." I turned and began to walk in the opposite direction.

"Oh no you don't" She replied walking up next to me. "I know what you were doing Bella, and your lucky I didn't tell Emmett."

"I was just snooping through the yearbook, it is not that big of a deal."

"You told him you wouldn't go looking alone."

"The opportunity just presented itself." I said shrugging.

"Bella." Alice stopped forcing me to turn towards her. "We are doing everything we can to look out for you, but you going to do things on your own is making that very difficult."

"I don't need a babysitter Alice." I said shaking my head.

"I know, but think about it this way. You doing this on our own is going to drive Emmett crazy."

"But." I interrupted.

"Bella you still don't understand how much you mean to him." She said almost to herself. "Just trust me on this."

"Okay." I said nodding my head.

"Good, now get to class. Mrs. Kelly is trying to decided if she is going to send someone out to look for you." She said smiling as if she had not just reprimanded me like a child. I nodded my head and walked quickly back to English.

"Nice of you to join us Ms. Swan." Mrs. Kelly said as I walked back into the room and sat in my desk. "Anyways in groups of two I want you to write a 10 page research paper about the movements that inspired Dostoyevsky to write this novel whether it be utilitarianism, Feminism, Socialism, or anything else that you can think of that we talked about in class. It will be due in one week." She finished as the bell rang. This was my in, I thought as I turned to look at Jessica.

"Hey Jessica, do you want to be partners?" I asked grabbing my book bag and slinging it over my shoulder.

"Sure." She said walking with me to Math.

"Do you want to start today after school?" I don't know how long I could wait. I wanted to meet her mother so bad, it was killing me.

"Okay." She said unsure, so I used the only card I had to make this a done deal.

"Great, I'll have Emmett drop me off at your house." I watched her eyes light up at the thought of Emmett Cullen at her house, even if I would be for a second.

"Yea, Okay." She sound way more excited this time. "I will call my mom and let her know." I smiled as we sat in our seats.

"Perfect." I said turning to the front.

"So I hear you are going to Jessica's house after school." Emmett said as I sat at our lunch table with a tray.

"Yep and your driving me." I smiled back at him.

"Am I now?" He asked raising his eyebrows as I nodded my head. "Why are you going to Jessica's?"

"It has been impossible to find any information on him, and her mother was in the same class as mine. She has to know something. Anything." I answered as Alice and Jasper sat.

"How do you know that?" Emmett asked looking at me.

"Well, I..." I looked at Alice who pretty much gave me a your on your own look, and decided to be honest. "I may have gone to look at the yearbook again this morning."

"Bella." Emmett shook his head and sounded disappointed.

"Alice was with me." I added quickly. Emmett looked, well more like glared at Alice, who simply shrugged. Emmett was obviously not happy, and Alice knew why.

"I don't understand what the big deal is. I was just in the library." I added.

"It's nothing." Emmett said stopping Alice from opening her mouth. The table got silent as I looked at everyone. Why do I feel like everyone knew something but me?

Alice's laughter broke the silence before she spoke.

"I'm sorry Bella."

"What?" I asked looking at her but she didn't have a chance to answer because Jessica had arrived.

"Bella, I talked to my mom and she said it's okay for you to come over."

"Great." I said smiling up at her as she stood next to me.

"Also Lauren is going to come too. She has a lot of work to do, and she just wants to hang out." The smile fell from my face. Now I get why Alice was sorry.

"Okay." I said trying to hold the enthusiasm in my voice.

"Great, we will all met at my house after school." She concluded walking back to her table. Before she was five feet away, Emmett started laughing.

"That sound like a fun afternoon." He joked.

"Your still driving me." I replied. I was spending the whole afternoon with Lauren and Jessica. This better be worth it.

"You sure you want to do this?" Emmett asked as we sat outside of Jessica's house in his Jeep. The rest of the day, Jessica and Lauren made sure to tell me how excited they were for this afternoon. Jessica I believed. Lauren I think had something up her sleeve.

"No." I answered honestly. "But this is the only way to find out about that picture." He took a deep breath and let it out.

"Emmett, I am not happy about spending time with Jessica or Lauren, but this is what I have to do."

"You don't have to do anything, Bella."

"Well, I am going to." I said unbuckling my seat belt, grabbing my backpack, and getting out of the Jeep.

"Call me when you are ready to leave." Emmett said at I stood at he door.

"Here goes nothing." I said smiling before I closed the door. I walked towards the porch raising the hood on my Jacket because it had begun to drizzle, and rang the doorbell. A large woman with light brown hair and a kind smile answered the door. It through her smile alone that I could tell this was the woman I wanted to talk too.

"You must be Bella." She said in a rough voice. "You look just like your mother."

"Thank you for having me Mrs. Stanley." I said stepping into the house and looking over my shoulder just in time to see Emmett drive off.

"Oh call me Jenny." She corrected swatting the air as if I offended her.

"Jenny."

"Come I will take you to the basement where Jess and Lauren are." She lead me through the hallway and down the stairs to a basement. "Who was it that dropped you off dear?" She asked me as we descended the stairs.

So this is where Jessica gets her need to know everything.

"Umm, my boyfriend." I answered trying to be a vague as possible.

"You have only been hear three weeks, and you already have a boyfriend. You are your mother's daughter." She said shaking her head.

"Bella." Jessica yelled before I had a chance to ask her mother what she meant.

"Well, I will leave you to your studies." Jenny said before she left to go up the stairs.

"Come on Lauren and I were doing homework by the TV." Jessica said leading me around a large L shaped couch. The basement was one white room with a brown couch, coffee table, and a large TV. Lauren sat on the ground at the table doing her math homework while Jessica and I sat on the couch. Lauren had had yet to acknowledge me as I pulled out my English book, and turned towards Jessica. If she wasn't going to talk to me, I sure as hell wasn't going to talk to her.

"So I was thinking that we should write our paper on socialism, and possibly throw in some poverty if we need to stretch it." I said to Jessica, who agreed completely. As we began to discuss the points we wanted to hit with this paper, Lauren repeatedly huffed loudly trying to get our attention. I ignored her, but it seems that Jessica didn't even hear. Eventually Lauren got fed up and slammed her book shut, causing both of us to look at her.

"I don't want to do homework any more." She said looking at us. "It's boring."

"We've been out of school for like an hour, how much could you have done?" I asked.

"Enough." She answered rudely.

"We are here to do homework." Jessica said siding with me. That was a first.

"Yea, but I am in need of some girl talk." Lauren countered and I knew that that was the end of being studious when I saw Jessica's eyes light up.

"Okay." She said closing her book and sliding down on the floor.

"But what about our paper?" I asked trying to hold my ground. The last thing I wanted to do with these two was gossip. There a hundred percent chance that whatever was said here would be all over school tomorrow.

"We have a week. Bella." Lauren said glaring at me. "Beside I am not working on mine right now. You'll be fine."

"I'm sure it is fine. I mean we already have a head start." Jessica said patting the spot next to her. I slowly slid down off the couch and on to the floor.

"Anyways, Saturday Mike took me out to dinner. And it was perfect."

"Where did you go?" Jessica asked excitedly.

"Joe's diner. He picked me up at my house and everything."

"That's so sweet." I think I'm in hell.

"Bella has Emmett ever taken you out on a date?" Lauren asked challenging me. I am definitely in hell, but I would play her game.

"Yea." I said shrugging my shoulders.

"Oh my gosh. Bella why didn't you tell me?" Jessica sounded offended.

"I didn't think it was a big deal."

"I am sure it wasn't to Emmett." Lauren added snidely. "Anyways I have to tell you how the date ended." Lauren said back to Jessica.

"Did he kiss you at the door?"

"Oh we did more than that." Lauren raised her eyebrows and smiled.

"Did you see his...?" Jessica asked excitedly and Lauren nodded. I was officially uncomfortable, and the thought of Mike's penis made me want to vomit.

"How big is it?" Jessica whispered as if someone would over hear.

"Big." Lauren answered.

"What did you do?"

"Well we started making out after dinner, and one thing lead to another. And the next thing I knew we were having sex in his back seat." My eyes bugged out of my head as I heard her. She could not be talking about this. Correction she should not be talking about this.

"Oh my God!" Jessica yelled. "What was it like? Did it hurt?"

"It was actually really romantic." I scoffed as the words left her mouth, nothing was romantic about losing you v card in backseat of a car on your first date. Unfortunately, it wasn't as quiet as I had hoped.

"What Bella are you jealous because I have a man who actually wants to sleep with me?" Lauren asked.

"Not at all. Congratulations." I said.

"I bet Emmett doesn't even touch you." She smiled.

"I just don't put out on the first date." That was kind of a lie, but Emmett and I had been together for over a week, and I had yet to actually put out, so it's kinda true. I don't know where this confidence was coming from, but I did know that I was pissed off that Lauren thought she could just walk all over me.

"That's because no one wants you." I rolled my eyes. I was so done with this, but I was here for a reason.

"You know what I'm thirsty." I said changing the subject. "Can I go get something to drink?"

"Yea sure my mother should be upstairs in the kitchen." Jessica answered as I stood.

"Okay. I'll be right back."

"Looking forward to it." Lauren said as I walked away. God I hate her. As I climbed the stairs, I heard her mother singing to herself. Following the noise, I found her mother singing in the kitchen as she cooked dinner.

"Something smells nice." I said announcing my presence.

"Thanks Bella. Do you need something?" She asked smiling at me.

"I was just a little thirsty." I said walking towards her.

"Oh let me get you a bottle of water." She said reaching into the fridge and handed me a bottle.

"So you knew my mother?" I asked opening it.

"You could say that. You mother was the popular girl in school. She was liked by everyone, and every guy wanted to date her. But she and I weren't really close."

"Oh, but didn't you graduate together? She talked about you all the time." I lied trying to bait her into telling me anything.

"Really?" She asked excitedly. I just nodded my head and smiled. "I mean we did grow up together, but like I said your mother lived for boys. She didn't have very many girlfriends, but she was popular. Prom Queen and all." BINGO!

"She was prom queen?" I asked.

"Oh yea, everyone knew she was going win."

"Who was the king?"

"Hmm.." She said as if she was thinking. "James, I think was the king, which was a shock to everyone."

"Why?"

"You are full of questions aren't you?" I smiled sheepishly hoping she would just answer me. "James and Renee dated but that was in junior year, and they had an awful break up. James was like the bad boy everyone loved to hate, and Renee was the cute, sweet, innocent girl everyone loved. So I was a little shocking he won, but I won't have put it past him to have rigged the whole thing." I smiled at my mothers memory, she was someone that everyone loved.

"Why did they break up?" I asked.

"I think he cheated on her. No one was really surprised, but she thought she could turn a bad boy good. And I worked for a while. They dated for at least three months."

"Oh."

"Yea but your mother was Prom Queen, Homecoming Queen, and Miss Popular. You really do look like her." She added. I knew this conversation was over. There was really no more information I could get from her. Except.

"So who did she really hang out with?"

"Her boyfriends at the time mainly, but everyone hung out with her. She was the life of the party." She shrugged. "Are you staying for dinner?"

"No, I promised Emmett I would eat dinner with his family." I lied again.

"Your dating Emmett Cullen." She said suspiciously. I nodded. "You are your mothers daughter, getting the unattainable."

"Oh my gosh, look at the time." I said trying to get out of this house as soon as possible. "I better text Emmett to pick me before we missed dinner." I said as I typed come get me into my phone. Within seconds Emmett texted back: three minutes.

"I better I go say bye to Jessica and Lauren." I said. "Thanks for having me. We really got a lot done." That was like my fifth lie today.

"Any time dear." She said as I walked down the stairs listening to Jessica and Lauren talk about me.

"The only reason I am going out with Mike is to make Emmett jealous. He doesn't see how plain she is. He deserves so much better." Lauren said as I stood at the foot of the stairs.

"Bella is pretty." Jessica defended.

"But is she Emmett Cullen pretty?"

"Well, no."

"That's my point. He is dating beneath him."

"Okay well I am going to go!" I yelled walking into the room causing both of them to jump. A guilty look crossed both of their faces as grabbed my bag.

"Really?" Jessica asked as the doorbell rang.

"Yea that's Emmett right now. I am going to dinner at his house." I have lied so much today.

"Oh well let me walk you out." Jessica said standing and following me up the stairs.

"I'm coming too." Lauren added.

When I made it to the front door, Mrs. Stanley was busy flirting with Emmett.

"It's so nice off you to come pick her up."

"Thanks Ma'am." Emmett replied with a boyish smile.

"Oh call me Jenny." She said and I rolled my eyes.

"Ready?" I asked him as I walked passed Mrs. Stanley, Jenny or whatever she wants to be called.

"Yep." Emmett said before he kissed my cheek.

"That's sweet." She commented.

"Hi Emmett." Lauren said waving.

"Lauren." Emmett replied not even looking at her. I couldn't help the smug smile that crept on my face as I noticed this.

"You two have fun at dinner, and tell your parents I say hi, Emmett."

"Okay, thanks." He said as we walked of the porch.

"How did it go?" He asked once we were both in the car.

"James and my mother dated for three months in their junior year, but other than that it was pretty useless. Oh and Mrs. Stanley thinks my mother was a slut."

"She said that?" He asked surprised.

"No put she implied it. Twice."

"And Lauren and Jessica?"

"Are awful." I answered as he laughed and drove back to my house. This day was not a successful as I thought it would be.

**Alright there you have it. I need some inspiration so leave me some love, and I will send you a preview.**


	19. Chapter 19

**I have to apologize for the wait. RL has kicked my ass. So here it is.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. SM owns all the characters. No copyright infringement intended. **

(Bpov)

"Bella." Emmett said the next morning as I walked into the my bedroom as I rubbed my hair with my towel after my shower. "I'm not going to be at school today."

That got my attention.

"Why?"

"It's is going to be sunny later today, and off and on for the rest of the week." He said sitting on my bed. Throwing my towel in the hamper, I went and stood in front of him.

"So what does that mean?" I asked needing clarification.

"I won't be at school for the rest of the week." He looked me straight in the eye probably gaging how I was going to take the news.

"Lucky." I said shrugging. "So what are you going to do all day?"

"Wait for you to get out."

"That's ridiculous." I said grabbing a pair of shoes and slipping them on my feet.

"Why?"

"You shouldn't have to wait around for me to finish school, then watch me do homework. That's dumb."

"Not if I want to." He defended weakly.

"What are Jasper and Alice doing? They can't just be hanging around." I asked.

"Well everyone else is going to Alaska to hunt till Monday."

"Why aren't you going with them?" The look on his face gave me my answer before he could. "Me. Your not going because of me?"

"I don't want to leave you here alone." He stood and walked over to me.

"Emmett," I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head on his chest. "I am a big girl. I can take care of myself for a week. I don't want you to feel obligated to babysit me."

"Bella." He protested but I cut him off.

"I think you should go." I said hoping it sounded final as I looked up at him. Did I want to send Emmett away? Hell no. But the idea of him holding himself back for me didn't sit well with me either.

"I already.."

"No, I want you to Alaska. I want you to go have fun. Go hang out with you family that you have barely seen since we have started dating."

"I spent almost 100 years with them. I've had enough for awhile." He countered.

"I don't care. Go. When is the last time you really hunted, Emmett? You have spent all your free time here. Go have fun."

"You're fun." He said playing with the hem of my shirt. I could feel my body react to his touch. Last night, I let him bring me to the brink of ecstasy twice before I returned the favor. Let's just say he has a very talented mouth.

"That's not what I meant." I stepped out of his reach. If he continued to touch me like that, I was going to change my mind.

"You're serious?" He asked looking into my eyes as I nodded my head.

"I guess I could go for a little while." I smiled.

"Then it is settled your going." I said not giving him a chance to change his mind.

"I will go on two conditions. You call me if there is a problem, and you drive me Jeep while I am gone."

"Emmett I do have my own truck." I argued.

"Yea and it's on death's door." He raised his eyebrows silently asking me to challenge that.

"You would really trust me with your most prized possession?"

"You're my most prized possession. I'm just trying to keep it safe." He said making me blush. His hand quickly raised to my check rubbing against the warm skin, making me blush more. "Beautiful."

"Stop. It's embarrassing." I said shaking my head and pushing his hand out the way.

"There is nothing embarrassing about being beautiful." He laughed taking a step back as I looked at the clock.

"Crap school start in 20 minutes." I said running my hands through my hair.

"Here." Emmett said reaching into his pocket and pulling out his keys.

"Emmett."

"You're driving my truck." Realizing that I wasn't going to win this one, I grabbed the keys and threw my bag over my shoulder. Emmett followed me down the stairs and out to his truck. After I put my bag into the backseat, I turned to face him. Placing both his hands on either side of my waist on the car, he pushed his hard body against mine successfully pinning me to the car. As I looked up into his eyes, he lowered his head to mine.

As always, his lips felt amazing. My hands moved on their own accord and found purchase on his neck pulling him towards me. I moaned as his cool tongue ran over my lips, immediately causing me to open them. I was going to miss this. His cool touch. His warm embrace. The feel of his body against mine. I was going to miss it all. When Emmett pulled back, he placed his forehead on mine and I closed my eyes.

"I'll be back before you get home from school on Friday." He whispered.

"But I thought everyone was coming back on Monday."

"I'll be here on Friday." He said definitely. I wasn't going to argue more. He was coming back three days earlier than expected.

"Okay." I said as I opened my eyes and smiled up at him. He leaned down and placed a quick peck on my lips.

"God, I am going to miss you." He said as he pulled back and released me completely.

"You can call me, you know."

"I plan on it. Everyday." He smiled as he opened the driver's door for me.

"Good." I said as he help me into the truck. This was going to be an interesting week if I had to drive this thing.

"Bella, I am serious about calling if something goes wrong. I could be here in four hours tops."

"That fast?" I asked surprised.

"I'm really good." He wiggled his eyebrows causing me to laugh.

"I'll be fine beside Alice will see if something is going to happen."

"Maybe, but when we are gone the wolves tend to run rampant." He grimaced at the thought while tried to control my breathing. I am still not comfortable with the concept if the wolves. "Don't worry about them. They are under strict orders not to bother you unless it is necessary for your safety." He added trying to calm me.

"You better get going beautiful, or you will be late."

"Here to hoping I don't crash you car." I said turing over the engine as I started the Jeep.

"Don't worry about it. Just drive safe." He said before he leaned in and lightly kissed my lips. "See you in 3 days."

"3 days." I repeated as he closed the door, and the put the truck in reverse.

The drive to school was difficult to say the least, and I didn't enjoy the stares I got because I was driving a Cullen car into the school parking lot. And in true Jessica fashion, she was on top of it.

"Where's Emmett?" Jessica asked as I opened my car door and hopped out. She couldn't even let me get out of the car before she hounded me.

"Vacation with his family." I said putting my bag on my shoulder and started walking in the parking lot towards class.

"He let you drive his truck?" Jessica asked astonished. Everyone knew Emmett loved his Jeep even if you didn't know him. He treats it like it's his child. It might even get it's own birthday party.

"More like made me. He thinks mine is going to die at any second."

"Well it is." She said as if it was definite.

"Whatever." I said as I sat in my chair.

"You know what they say. Great minds think alike."

"Oh Emmett will love to hear that." I said sarcastically as Mrs. Kelly stood and began her lecture about the next book on our reading list. But unfortunately no one was listening. Notes were being passed around. The sound of the click from the buttons of cell phones only added to the whispers that were constant in the background. But Mrs. Kelly pushed with her lecture calling out students through the hour in hopes that people would get the message. It didn't work, and she became more frustrated. Little did I know that in her next outburst she would give me the next clue in the mystery that had consumed me.

"You know what, I am doing everything that I can up here to prepare you all for the real world. Would it kill you all to pay attention?" She yelled slamming our next novel on her desk causing everyone to get quiet and immediately look at her. "I get that there are more interesting things that you could talk about. I have been in high school before it may have been in the late eighties, but I don't think much has changed in Forks the last twenty years. I know that right now you are more concerned about who is dating who, and what you are going to wear tomorrow. And I know you won't believe me, but what I am teaching you know is way more important. You can't get a job if you are illiterate. So please just pay attention." She finished and sat at her desk right before the bell rang.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She added defeated. But a smile was on my face as I packed my bag. Being a student twenty years ago, meant she went to school with my mother. She may not have been in the same class, but Fork is so small that she had to at least know her. As I stood, I thought about going up to talk to her, but the look on her face told me that was a bad idea. After her rant, it was apparent that she was pissed and wouldn't be open to talking to be about her high school career. Also I had no idea what I was going to talk to her about. What excuse was I going to use to get the information out of her.

"You ready?" Jessica asked walking up to me.

"Yea." I replied as we walked out of the classroom. I would have to talk to Mrs. Kelly when she was in a better mood, and I had a conversation starter. I followed Jessica out into the hall towards math.

"So when do you want to work on the paper again?" She asked as we walked down the crowded loud hall.

"Um I dunno. I guess I am pretty much free for the rest of the week, so whenever." I answered.

"Ok well I have to do some cheerleading stuff today after school, but how about tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"And I'll make sure that Lauren doesn't come this time, so we can actually get work done. She was distracting yesterday." That was the first time I had ever heard Jessica say something semi negative about Lauren, and I loved it. It proved that I wasn't the only one who noticed that she was a bitch. And we all learned she was a slut yesterday.

"Okay so I will go over to your house tomorrow." I said as we entered our math classroom and sat in our seats. The rest of the morning went slowly. Without Emmett here I had nothing to look forward to, but I didn't regret making him leave until lunch came around and I realized that I had to sit at my old table.

"Well look who decided to join us." Lauren said as I sat my tray down and lowered myself in to a seat. "I guess Emmett finally dumped you."

"I don't think so Lauren. Bella drove Emmett's truck to school today." Jessica said before I had a chance to answer surprising me for the second time today.

"Why would Emmett give you his truck?"

"He thought hers was going to break down. It think it's cute. He's worried about you." Jessica answered for me.

"Or he thinks you're completely incompetent." Lauren retorted smiling at me.

"Isn't that word a little big for your vocabulary." The words slipped out of my mouth before I had a chance to catch them.

"What did you just say?" Lauren asked as the smile disappeared on her face and her lips fell into a tight line.

"I'm just saying you're not very smart." I responded as I shook my head and looked down at my plate.

"Excuse me?" She said as her voice went up an octave.

"I just think an eleven letter word is a bit of a stretch for you."

"Too bad everyone hates you Bella."

"I don't see how. Unlike you, I am nice to people." I said standing. I had completely had enough of Lauren thinking she could talk about me, and I wouldn't respond.

"But I do have something I should apologize for." I continued turning towards Mike. "Mike, I am sorry I convinced you to take Lauren to the dance. You can obviously do so much better." I finished grabbing my tray and leaving the table. That wasn't my classiest moment but it felt good. A smile graced my face as I walked down the empty halls of the school, waiting for class to start.

As I entered the English building to get my stuff for biology from my locker, I saw Mrs. Kelly sitting at her desk alone eating a salad. Now was as good a time as any to talk to her. Walking towards her classroom, I lightly knocked on the door before I walked in.

"Oh Bella. Come on in." She said motioning for me to walk closer. "What can I do for you?" I hadn't really planned out what I was going to talk to her about, so I just said the first thing that came to my mind.

"I'm really sorry about this morning."

"No I should be apologizing." She said putting down her fork. "I shouldn't have yelled like that."

"We kind of deserved it." I said smiling and the room fell silent. Maybe this wasn't the best way to start the conversation.

"So have you started the project yet?" She asked as I sighed in relief.

"Yes. Jessica and I are going to right about socialism." I said nodding my head.

"That's a really good choice. There is a lot in the book about that."

"We hope so." I said as the room became quiet for the second time in a minute.

"Bella what did you really come in here to talk to me about?" Mrs. Kelly asked seeing through all my pretenses. At this point I just decided honesty is the best policy.

"Um..You said you went to school here twenty years. I was just wondering if you knew my mother." I bit my lip hoping I didn't just over step the bounds of the student teacher relationship. But the smile on her face, told me it was okay.

"Of course I knew your mother. Everyone did. I think I am one for the few people who can say I knew both your parents. Renee and James were inseparable before they both left." She said.

"I'm sorry what?" I asked shocked.

"I knew both your parents." She repeated looking confused.

"My father's name is Phil." I corrected. "My mother met him in Arizona."

"Oh I'm sorry. I just assumed that since both Renee and James left Forks together that they had gone on to get married and have kids."

"They ran away from Forks together?"

"Did you not know this?" She asked looking suspicious.

"My mother never really talk about her life in Forks." I said shaking my head.

"Oh I'm sorry." She said. "Well yes. She and James left Forks together. They had both decided that they were done with this town, and they thought they could do better else where. That was the last that I had talked to her. I wish I could tell you more." She shook her head. "Your mother was one of the people that knew everyone, but no one but James really knew her."

"It's okay. You've have already been a huge help." I said smiling. She really did look as if she wanted to tell me more, but had nothing to say. The bell rang and students began piling in the classroom.

"Well I better go." I said pulling my bag further up on my shoulder. "The Science building is on the other side of campus."

"Alright well. If you have any other questions, I will try to answer them to the best of my ability."

"Thank you." I said before I ran out of the room towards Biology. I made it to my desk just in time to see Lauren glare at me before the bell to ring. Mr. Boyle stood and began to hand out a packet to each desk.

"Alright, I am handing out your next lab. You have until the end of class to finish it." I'm going to kill Emmett for leaving me to do this by myself.

The rest of school passed slowly, minus the lab I probably failed. I felt like I didn't have enough time to do the first half let alone finish it. But considering that the Cullen's are the only people that I talk to in the afternoon, I was bored for the rest of the day. Lauren avoid like she had something to hide, and Jessica followed but gave me small smiles behind her back.

As I left gym, the sun was shining, people were throwing footballs around in the parking lot, and everyone had smiles on there faces. I never thought I wouldn't be happy to see the sun. My mood soured even further when I saw three tall men walk towards me. Two of which I didn't know, but one I would never forget. Sam.

My first thought was to run in the other direction, but they would catch me. There was no doubt in my mind about that. So I stood there watching them walk towards me. My breathing began to pick up the closer they got. A smile spread across one of their faces as he saw fear written in mine. Sam was the first to speak when they had reach me.

"How are you doing Bella?" He said with a kind smile, but I didn't believe it. The last time I saw this man, he put me through hell.

"Fine." I said in a clipped tone.

"Good. I am glad to hear that."

"Is there a reason you're here?" I asked hoping that he would get to the point. I was in no mood for small talk.

"Yea." He said shaking his head. "A nomad vampire came to Forks today, and we lost her scent."

"What does that have to do with me?" I asked confused.

"You may not know it. But you have the scent of bloodsucker all over you." Another man said.

"Paul." Sam chastised before turning back to me. "The point we are trying to make is that it would be natural for this vampire to be curious about you, and since the Cullens are out of town, you may be seeing us around."

"You think she's going to come after me?"

"Not really, but we are not going to take any chances. We just wanted to let you know."

"So there is nothing for me to worry about?" I asked again.

"No we just didn't want you to freak out if one of us followed you."

"Okay." I said before all three of them turned around, walked back to their truck, and drove away. Taking a deep breath, I pulled out Emmett's keys and walked towards his Jeep. The air left my lungs, when I made it to the drivers side door. Scratched in the paint on the drivers side was the word Bitch. Lauren's face immediately popped into my mind. Of course she did it, I embarrassed her, but I didn't expect her to damage Emmett's truck was well. Oh shit, Emmett is going to kill me.

I jumped in the car as quickly as possible and sped out the parking lot hoping no one saw what was keyed in the drivers side. As soon as I got home, I was googleing how to fix a keyed car hoping that if I found a solution I wouldn't have to tell him. Unfortunately since the scratch goes to the primer, it has to be sanded down and repainted. I don't have enough money nor do I have the time to do that. I'm so dead.

Knowing that there was nothing I could do, I decided to wait for Emmett to call me. No need to rush to my death. I spent the rest of the afternoon doing homework and research for our English project. I was interrupted twice by Charlie. The first time I had to explain what happened to Emmett car and why I had it. He wasn't to happy an threatened to call Lauren's father, but I said she would just deny it. The second time was for dinner.

As I climbed the stairs back towards bedroom after eating pizza for the third time this week, I heard my cell ring. Rushing up the the stairs, I grabbed my phone and saw Emmett name on the screen. I'm so dead.

"Hello." I said hesitantly. There was a good chance Alice already saw what happened, and he was just going to open the conversation yelling.

"Hey, beautiful. How was school?" He said jovially. Either he doesn't know or this is a test.

"It was okay." I said trying to gage his reaction.

"Did you miss me?"

"Yea especially during our lab today in biology which I failed."

"I'm sure you didn't fail, Bella." He said laughing.

"Emmett, I failed." I responded flatly as he laughed harder. "You seem to be in a good mood." I commented.

"Well the hunting up here is amazing, and it is nice not to be in school. But I do miss you a lot." Even through the phone he could make me blush. I heard some kissy noises in the back round and a loud thud.

"What was that?"

"Sorry, I needed to tell Jasper to shut the fuck up." Emmett replied. I laughed. After my laughter died down I knew I had to tell him. The conversation was quiet before Emmett spoke.

"What on your mind sweetheart?" He asked sweetly. He knew me so well.

"You're going to be really mad." I said biting my lip.

"No I won't just tell me." He said calmly, but I could hear the a little strain in his voice. He is trying to control his emotions. Immediately the vision of a pissed off Emmett from the night with the wolves popped into my mind, and I began to panic. My breathing quickened and tears came to my eyes. I could not handle a pissed of Emmett.

"Bella, calm down." Emmett said quietly. "Just tell me what happened."

"Well Lauren and I got into a small argument, and she retaliated on your Jeep." I finished holding my breath waiting for the yelling. But I was only met with laughter.

"That's it." He said.

"Emmett she keyed your car and your laughing about it." I responded suspiciously.

"Bella it's just a car."

"Okay well I promise I will pay for it to be repainted."

"Bella don't worry about it." He said chuckling.

"This isn't funny Emmett. Lauren keyed the word bitch into your drivers side door. Charlie said I can't drive it anymore."

"Lauren keyed what into my car?" Emmett asked strained.

"She wrote bitch, but she was talking about me. Don't take it personally."

"She called you a bitch?"

"Emmett I am sure it wasn't the first time." I responded.

"That doesn't make it okay."

"I tell you your car just got keyed and you are mad that someone called me a bitch. What is wrong with that statement?" I asked sarcastically.

"I already told you I don't care about the Jeep."

"That's a lie." I countered causing him to laugh. Emmett and I talked for the rest of the night until I yawned and he told me to go to sleep. Even though we talked for hours, the topic of a vampire being in town or my mother never came up.

**As I said I am sorry for the wait. But review and I will send you a preview. Thanks **


	20. Chapter 20

**Well it seems a lot of you weren't happy that Bella didn't tell Emmett. Remember she's not perfect and neither is he.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters belong to SM. No copyright infringement intended. **

(Bpov)

The next day the guilt about not telling Emmett about my mother or the vampire ate away at me so much that I planned on telling him the next night starting with the news about my mother and easing him into the concept of a rampant vampire. But when I told him that both James and my mother left Forks together, he didn't even seem surprised. And I became frustrated, it was obvious he knew something and was unwilling to tell me. That night we had our first fight. The conversation ended with me hanging up on him and turning off my phone after he called me back for the fifth time. Couldn't he get the hint? I didn't want to talk to him. He can't just keep secrets from me. Yes, technically I still haven't told him about the vampire, I planned on it. And I was going to, until he pissed me off. He didn't even act like he was going to tell me what he knew. I went to bed angry that night.

As I drove to school Friday morning, my eyes where heavy and my vision was shaky. The one thing I do need Emmett for is good nights sleep. The nightmares had come back with a vengeance ever since Emmett left. It was like they were making up for lost time. Visions of James killing my mother, Emmett, and Charlie haunted me. The only thing that was currently keeping me awake at the moment was the loud rumble of the old rusty truck. Emmett's Jeep still sat in our driveway waiting for him to return to it. Charlie refused to let me drive around in a truck with profanities scratched into the side. Emmett agreed.

"Did you figure out how much is was going to cost to get Emmett's truck fixed?" Jessica asked as we walked through the parking lot towards class. The last few days I had come to like Jessica more and more. Yesterday after school we spent hours at her house working on our English paper. During that time, she really opened up to me. I told her about Emmett's Jeep being keyed, and she admitted that Lauren did it. She talked to me about how she feels Lauren treats her like shit, and only cares about herself. She used to ignore it, but I guess damaging Emmett's car was the last straw. I chose to ignore that fact that Jessica herself had a crush on Emmett, and just told her I was happy she was finally sticking up for herself.

"No. I know Emmett told me not to worry about it, but I feel bad." I said as we entered the building.

"Thats understandable. I still can't believe Lauren did that. She was bragging to me on the phone about it last night. Saying that now he would break up with you." She said shaking her head. "I think you should retaliate." She continued. I may like Jessica more now, but that doesn't mean she isn't her same old meddling self. I have just learned to accept it now.

"No, that wouldn't be a good idea. I am going to take the high road. Anyways Lauren's been avoiding me since it happened. I think she is afraid of what I will do." I replied as we entered the classroom.

"I would be if I were her. I'm sure Emmett is pissed."

"Not really." I said as we sat in our seats.

"Just because he didn't tell you, doesn't mean he isn't pissed. It just means he is not mad at you." I shrugged realizing that she had a point. Emmett might be angrier than he is letting on.

"Alright lets get to work." Mrs. Kelly said standing as she called the class's attention up to her. Paying attention in class now was easier than ever. It was as if she and I had found a common ground. I didn't just think of Mrs. Kelly as an annoying English teacher, she was a friend of my mothers and that alone deserved my respect. And she would send small smiles my way throughout class in understanding. English was now bearable.

The rest of the morning went quickly, probably because I was dreading seeing Emmett this afternoon. I can't say I acted my age last night, but I do stand by my claim. He shouldn't purposely be keeping secrets from me. But that doesn't mean I was ready to talk to him face to face.

"So what are your plans this weekend?" Mike asked as Jessica and I sat our trays down at the lunch table. For the second day in a row, Lauren was now where to be seen and that brought a smile to my face.

"I thought we were all going to La Push this weekend." Jessica answered as I took a bite out of my ham sandwich.

"We are. I was asking Bella." Mike corrected. I brought my eyes to his as he said my name and shrugged.

"I dunno. I am probably just going to hang out with Emmett since he has been out of town all week."

"Well you guys are more than welcome to join us at the beach."

"Yea that would be so much fun." Jessica added to Mike's comment.

"I dunno." I said knowing that Emmett could go no where near La Push.

"Well you guys are more than welcome to join us." Mike concluded.

"To be honest we probably won't go." I added so Mike wouldn't get his hopes up. "I mean Lauren's going."

"Yea true. I can't believe she did that to Cullen's car." He said shaking his head.

"Does everyone know?" I asked as everyone at our table looked down at their plates. "Well that's just great."

"Bella no one here agrees with what she did." Angela said breaking the silence. I opened my mouth the answer her but I stopped when I felt my phone vibrate in my jean pocket. I huffed thinking that it was Emmett calling me again, but as I pulled it out and looked at the screen, I recognized my old area code.

"Excuse me." I said not taking my eyes off my phone as I grabbed my backpack and left the cafeteria. Several possibilities of who this could be ran through my mind. Was it Ryan? One of my old friends from school? But none of that made sense. I had changed my number when I moved here and none of them actually knew where I lived. It would be to much of a coincidence if this was a wrong number. They have to know who they are calling.

"Hello" I answered hesitantly as I walked out to the parking lot for privacy.

"Is this Bella Swan?" The voice asked. Now I knew they knew exactly who they were calling. In Phoenix my last name was Dwyer. I changed it to my mother maiden name when I moved here so that everyone couldn't google my past. This person knew exactly who they were talking to.

"Yes."

"My name is Officer Riley, do you remember me?" How could I forget? He was one of the first officers to arrive at my house the night of the murder. He was the one who found me.

"Yes." I answered. My voice had risen over an octave and my breathing increase. Panic set in as I tried to figure out why he was calling me.

"I hope everything is well in Washington." He said making small talk.

"It's fine." I answered quickly silently urging him to get to the point.

"That's good. That's good." He said before he took a deep breath. "I called for a reason Bella." He continued in somber voice.

"What's that?"

"I wish I had better news, but it seems that during a prisoner transit last Wednesday James Atwood escaped."

"Oh God." I said as the air left my lungs and my kneed buckled underneath me.

"There is no need to panic. He has no idea where you are, and we have already notified the local authorities in Forks. But we didn't want you to hear this from anyone else." Tears streamed down my cheeks, as I nodded my head.

"Okay, do you know where he is?" I asked.

"No, but everyone in the precinct is looking for him. I will not rest until he is put behind bars, Bella." I sniffed trying to control my tears. I heard a voice on the other end of the line ask Officer Riley a question. "Bella, I have to go. But this number is still good if you have any questions or concerns okay?" He asked in a calm deep voice.

"Okay." I answered before I heard the dial tone pick up. I dropped my phone the pavement, and put my head in my hands. How did this happen? How could this happen? I thought I was done fearing him, and now he could enter my life again at any moment.

I heard a car pulling into the parking lot. I opened my eyes to see Charlie getting out of the cruiser, running towards me. You could see the concern on his face, as he saw on me on my knees in the parking lot crying.

"They called?" He asked. I nodded my head.

"Come on. Let's get you home." Charlie said helping me stand and putting me into the cruiser before he drove home.

"Everything is going to be fine, Bella." Charlie said breaking the silence about two minutes into the ride. I didn't respond. I just stared out the windshield as tears silently streaked my cheeks.

"They will catch him." He added. This was like our first car ride all over again. Charlie was saying anything and everything to calm my nerves and get me to talk, but I just wasn't cooperating. I guess Charlie had given up, because the rest of the car ride was silent. When we pulled up to the house, I opened my door without a word and walked inside immediately climbing the stairs to my room. Throwing my book bag on the floor, I fell on the bed burring my face in the comforter.

I heard the front door shut as Charlie walked in. I heard his feet as he climbed the stairs, and I heard his knuckles as they hit my door. Turning the knob and pushing the door open, he walked in and sat next to me on the bed. I turned my head away from him refusing to look.

"I wish there was something I could say to make you feel better, but I don't know if that would help. Everyone is doing everything they can to catch this guy. He won't bother you again, Bella. I promise." I tensed slightly when I felt his hand touch my back. He pulled it back immediately. I know he didn't mean to scare me, but to be honest everything had me on edge now.

"Okay, well I am going to go down stairs. Let me know if you need me." I felt the bed rise as he stood, and walked out of the room. More tears streamed down my face, as I realized I was alone. No one was here with me. No one understood.

Fearing being alone with my thoughts, I grabbed the prescription bottle that Carlisle had written for me when I busted my arm and took two pills. Dropping the bottle on the floor, I laid down and looked at the ceiling. I felt my eyes close as the medicine took effect. With in minutes, I was out.

But even in my dreams he haunted me. I saw his face everywhere. I felt his touch. His voice was constantly in my ear. I couldn't escape. I knew he was going to catch me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

When I woke up my room was dark and I felt as if I was surrounded by a hard surface. I welcomed the feeling I had come to call normal. Raising my head, I was met with Emmett stern face staring back at me in the moonlight. Sitting up, I pulled back from Emmett embrace, and looked down at my lap. I didn't know what to say or where to start. So much had changed since he left.

"The nightmares are back." Emmett said. It wasn't a question. He knew. Why else would he have been holding me like that. I didn't answer him, I just looked down at my purple comforter. Emmett huffed loudly showing his frustration.

"Bella why were the wolves here?" I brought my head back up and looked into his eyes. I didn't have the energy to lie or even get angry with him. With everything that had happened in the last 48 hours, I just wanted him to hold me. But we had a lot to talk about before we reached that point. Lowering my head in shame, I answered him.

"There was some nomad vampire in the area. They told me on tuesday after school that they would be around until you came back." I said quietly waiting for the verbal onslaught from Emmett, and boy did I get it.

"What?" He asked. He voice was low and still, and I could feel his eyes burring into the top of my head. I didn't repeat myself. I know he heard me. After ten seconds of silence, only broken my his heavy breathing, Emmett was on his feet pacing the floor of my bedroom.

"Why didn't you tell me when we talked on Tuesday?" His voice was harsh as he questioned me causing me to flinch. But I deserved it, I should have told him.

"I just..To be honest, it slipped my mind on Tuesday night. And then I meant to tell you yesterday, but then we got in that argument."

"You told me you would call me if there was a problem."

"The wolves said they didn't really think it was going to be a problem."

"You talk to them?" Emmett asked louder. I nodded my head as tears came down my face. "Jesus Christ Bella."

"I didn't want to ruin your trip."

"It doesn't matter. You weren't safe here. Wolves are ruled by their emotions, any of them could have easily have hurt you. And on top of that you are terrified of them." I raised my hand wiping my tears from my cheeks and sniffed. Within seconds Emmett was next to me on the bed, holding my face in his hands.

"I'm not trying to scare you Bella. But you need to understand how serious this is. You can't depend on the wolves to protect you. I wish you told me." Emmett said running his thumbs under my eyes trying to catch tears that had yet to fall.

"I know." I said looking into his black eyes. "If it make you feel better I was scared before you came back."

"What are you afraid of beautiful?" He asked caressing my cheek.

"I got a phone call today." I answered shaking my head. "James escaped prison." I finished taking a shaky breath.

"I know."

"What?" I asked stone faced looking at Emmett.

"I know James escaped."

"How? I just found out."

"I had Jasper look into James's past on Saturday. It was written in his prisoner file."

"You've known since Saturday. That's almost a week." I said pulling away from him.

"I didn't tell you, because I didn't want you to worry."

"Because you didn't tell me, I freaked out in the school parking lot." I countered.

"You weren't supposed to know."

"Oh that's a great defense." I shook my head. This is unbelievable.

"Bella." Emmett said. "We weren't in Alaska. And we weren't on a hunting trip. Well we were hunting, but not for food. My entire family has spent the last three days looking for this guy, and they are still looking. You weren't supposed to know that he escaped. We didn't want you to have to worry or be scared anymore." It hard to be mad at someone when you realize they are doing everything they can to make your life easier.

"So I'm guessing you didn't find him?" He shook his head.

"It's hard to track someone when you don't even know their scent and he has a five day head start, but we are still looking." I closed my eyes tightly as tears seeped through. It wasn't comforting to know that he had evaded a group of vampires.

"Bella, I'm not going to let anything happen to you. He's not coming anywhere near you, do you understand me?" Emmett said as I opened my eyes up to him. "I love you too much, to let anything or anyone hurt you."

"You love me?" I whispered looking into his dark eyes.

"More than you know." I raised my hand and placed it on his cheek feel his cool hard skin. Leaning forward, I gently place my lips on his and pulled back resting my forehead on his. Taking a deep breath, I inhaled his sweet scent. And I knew.

"I love you too." I said looking into his eyes. I watched them get impossibly darker and he lowered his hands from my face, and placed them on my hips pulling me closer so that I was straddling him.

His lips where on mine within seconds as his hands ran up my back. I pushed myself forward loving the feeling of his hard chest against mine as I opened my mouth to him. Wrapping my arms around his neck, my tongue explored his cool sweet mouth. When air became a necessity, I pulled my head back, and Emmett went to work kissing his way down my v-neck t shirt. When his cold tongue ran in between my breast, a moan escaped my lips and my head fell back as I pushed my heated core into his. We had only been kissing for a couple minutes, but my body was already reacting to his.

"I will never get sick of that smell." Emmett said into my chest as his fingertips played with the bottom of my shirt. I wanting to feel all of him, I raised my arms above my head hoping Emmett would get the message. Recognition graced Emmett's face as he pulled my shirt over my head.

As he brought his hand back down he stopped at the clasp of my bra and looked into my eyes asking permission. I knew what he was asking for. This wasn't just about foreplay anymore. This wasn't about getting off. We had proclaimed our love for each other. In that small moment where we spoke our feeling everything had shifted. This was about showing the other person your love.

I nodded my head in response. Emmett unhooked my bra and pulled it down my arms exposing my chest to him. Before I could blink, I was on my back with Emmett positioned between my legs. His lips were on mine, as I pulled at the bottom of his shirt slipping my hands underneath. Running my hand across the hard plains of his back, I pushed my hips up to his searching for fiction. Emmett met me with a hard thrust pushing his erection against the seam of my jeans. I cried out at the pressure.

Pulling Emmett shirt up, he sat up enough to allow my to pull it off. As I felt his cool bare chest touch mine, I closed my eyes. His lips touched mine for a second before he sat up and began unbuttoning my jeans. Our eyes never left each others, as I lifted my hips and he got off the bed taking my jeans and underwear with him.

"Beautiful." He said staring down at my naked form. I could feel the blush creeping over my body as he gazed at me. Trying not to let my insecurities get he best of me, I stood up on my knees, and began unbuckling his pants. As I pulled his zipper down, Emmett's hand came to my cheeks forcing me to look up at him. Leaning down, he kissed me harshly as my hand slipped into his pants pushing them down.

When he pulled away, I was left panting as I climbed further up onto the bed. After stepping out of his pants and pulling down is boxers, he joined me on the bed seating himself between my legs kissing me passionately. I moaned into his mouth as his hard shaft slipped between my wet folds. I could feel the rumble in his chest as he growled when I raised my hips slightly seeking friction.

"Bella, are you sure?" Emmett asked pulling back looking into my eyes. He raised his hand and lightly caressed my cheek.

"Yea." I whispered nodding my head. I have never been more sure of anything in my life. I love this man. He lowered his hand from my cheek, and aligned himself with my entrance rubbing the head against me while still looking into my eyes.

"I love you." He whispered before kissing me. I gasped as he slowly pushed himself inside me. He was bigger than Ryan and it had been a couple months, so I can't say if felt good when he entered me. But I just closed my eyes, waiting for the discomfort to subside. When I felt Emmett pelvis hit my clit, I knew he was completely in. But he waited for me to adjust, giving me time to get use to his size.

Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes to find Emmett staring down at me intently. Grinding my hips against his, I signaled for him to begin. I moaned at the feeling of his first thrust. Raising my arms up, I pulled Emmett closer to me as he placed the majority of his weight on his forearms. I felt as though my skin was on fire, and only Emmett's cool touch could put it out. Wanting to feel all of him, I pulled him closer.

"I don't want to hurt you." He whispered as he continued his slow thrusts resisting me.

"Please, I just want to feel you near me." I begged raising my hips to his. Emmett in understanding lowered more of his weight on to me. "Oh god." I moaned closing my eyes as Emmett rotated his hips in a circular motion against mine. I could feel myself getting closer to the edge as he picked up the pace. His sweet breath fanned over me as he rested his forehead on mine. Looking into his dark orbs, I saw it all. His love. His admiration. I saw everything, and I hoped that he could see mine.

"Fuck." I heard leave his mouth as I met each of his thrusts. Emmett lowered his head to the crook of my neck and began to lick the sensitive flesh. "You smell so amazing."

I shivered as his cool tongue ran across the skin that covered my artery. I should have been scared. I should have been terrified. But he loved me and I trusted him with my life.

"I'm so close." I moaned as I grabbed at his back. If he were human, he would undoubtedly be covered in red scratch marks. The tightening in my gut only got worse as Emmett's thrust grew faster and deeper.

"You're perfect, you know that?" Did he really expect me to answer him right now?

"Em...I'm gonna..." Before I could even finish the thought, his lips where on mine swallowing my moans as I fell over the edge. He continued his hard thrust allowing me to ride out my orgasm. My whole body shook, as I convulsed around him.

"Fuck." Emmett growled against my lips as he stilled within me finding release. We both laid there panting, as we tried to pull ourselves together. Emmett was the first, of course, kissing the skin on my neck causing shivers to run down my spine each time working his was over until he kissed the corner of my mouth. I looked up to find him starring down at me with a look of satisfaction on his face.

"I love you." He said looking into my eyes. I felt my heart stutter as I realized how perfect of a moment this is.

"I love you too." I replied before he leaned down and kissing my lips softly. I hissed when he pulled back and rolled onto his back, pulling out of me in the process. Turning towards him, Emmett tucked me into his side as I rested my head on his bare chest still breathing heavily.

"Go to sleep beautiful," Emmett said kissing the top of my head. "I'll be here when you wake up." I have never heard more comforting words in my life.

**Alright. There you have it. They said I love you. I have to apologize though, this is not my best lemon but I wanted to get this out to you. So leave me a review and let me know what you think, and I will send you a preview. **


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I won nothing. All characters belong to SM. No copyright infringement intended.**

(Bpov)

"I know you're awake." Emmett said as I lay against him. I don't know how long I had been laying there, but I had been trying to come up with ways to get put some clothes on but still snuggle with Emmett like we were now. Yes, I know that sounds dumb. This isn't the first time he had seen me in my birthday suit, but I still get embarrassed every morning wondering if this time he is going to see something he doesn't like.

"I was just resting my eyes." I said as the blood rushed to my face. Raising my cheek off of Emmett's chest, I opened my eyes and looked up at him. "How did you know I was awake anyway?"

"When you're asleep, your breathing is even and your heart is slower than when you are awake." He answered smiling down at me.

"You really pay attention to all of that?"

"I pay attention to everything that has to do with you." He said raising his eyebrows. I could feel the heat come to my face. I always get embarrassed when he say things like this. Is it romantic, yes. But I guess because I don't think about myself that way, it's hard to believe that he does.

"So what the plan today?" I asked changing the subject as I sat up taking the comforter with me. As more of Emmett bare chest came into view, I remembered that I wasn't the only one who was naked, and thoughts of last night came rushing into my head.

"Well I thought we could go back to my house." Emmett responded. But I was still reeling about what happened last night. We said I love you, that a huge step. We had sex for the first time, although I don't think you can call it having sex. I was having sex with Ryan. There was no mutual admiration for each other with him. It was pretty much all about him getting off. But with Emmett, it was more. He was so attentive, and concerned with my needs that I could help by reciprocated it. Last night was the first time I actually had an orgasm during sex. To be honest, I didn't even think that was possible, but now I know that it has everything to do with the person you are with. Ryan always use to finish first, and once he was done, he was done. But last night, Emmett waited until I had my release, before he even started his. He held off is enjoyment until I had mine. At least I think he enjoyed it. Oh my god what if he didn't enjoy it. I mean I have only ever been with one other person, and he has like 90 years of experience on me. How many girls has he been with? What if I wasn't good?

"What is going on in that pretty little head of yours?" Emmett asked breaking me out of my internal monologue. He had his head tilted to the side with one eyebrow arched.

"Last night." I answered honestly. After everything we had been through honesty was definitely the best policy.

"Do you regret it?" He asked sitting up. I shook my head no, and he hand raised to cradle my cheeks. "Good, because last night was perfect. You were perfect. You are perfect." He corrected. "And I meant what I said, I do love you."

Looking into his eyes, I know he meant every word.

"I know, I love you too." I answered. His lips touched mine for a brief second before they pulled back.

"Good. Now stop beating yourself up." He finished before kissing my forehead.

"So why are we going to your house? No one is there." I said as Emmett leaned back into the pillows and reached out for my hand which I gladly gave him.

"After you went to sleep, I called Carlisle and told him about the nomad. He thought it was best everyone return so that we could put up a united front, just incase she gets curious. And considering I don't plan on letting you out of my sight until she's gone, I was hoping you would want to come with me." He said playing with my fingers.

"Well then I guess I better get dressed." I smiled.

"Or we could just stay here and lay in bed all day." Emmett said changing his mind.

"Nope we are going to your place." I said hopping over him taking the bed sheet with me as Emmett laughed.

"What so funny?" I said turing back to face him.

"I don't know why you insist on covering yourself. I have already seen everything, and I love it." I blushed furiously as he spoke.

"Will you quit?" I said looking everywhere but him. Instantly he was standing in front of me butt naked. Dear God, I thought trying to look everywhere but his chiseled form.

"I just don't want you to be embarrassed with me. I told you you're perfect, beautiful." I raised my eyes up to his and saw him smiling down at me. "Now I am going to run home and change. I will be back in in thirty minutes. To get you, and we will drive the Jeep to my house, okay?"

"Okay." I responded. He placed his lips against mine. Raising myself up on the tips of my toes, I asked him for entrance with my tongue. As I wrapped my arms around his neck, he opened his mouth to me and placed his hands at my waist. As I felt his body react to the closeness of mine to his, I pulled back. But Emmett didn't let me get far by keeping his hands on my waist.

"I told you only you could do this to me." He said wiggling his eyebrows causing my the blush again today.

"Alright go take a shower. I'll be back." Emmett said turning me around and pushing me towards the door. I walked into the bathroom, leaving a very naked Emmett in my bedroom.

After I was clean and dressed, I walked down the stairs to see Charlie talking to a fully clothed Emmett.

"I really must apologize son. I will pay for the repairs to your truck." I smiled as I heard Charlie call him son. Emmett is old enough to be his grandfather.

"Don't worry about it, sir. I understand it was an accident, and I am sure the insurance will take care of it."

"We'll at least let me pay your deductible." Charlie countered.

"You'd have to talk to my parents about that. I have no idea how much that is, but I don't think they will let you pay it." Emmett said playing the perfect high school student. I knew he knew exactly what his deductible was, hell he even knew what type of engine was in his truck and how to build it, but the average high school student doesn't. "Besides I am sure my sister is going to want to fix it anyway. She loves cars." He added as he watched me walk towards him smiling.

"I'll talk to your parents. Just let me know if there is anything I can do."

"Will do." Emmett said "You ready?" He asked me.

"Yep." I answered before turning to Charlie. "I am going to go hang out at Cullen's."

"Alright. You kids have fun." Charlie answered turning to sit on the couch and watch TV.

"Your cars in the garage." I said leading Emmett through the kitchen. "Charlie didn't want anyone to see it." I finished handing him the keys. As I turned on the light on, a growl left Emmett throat as he saw his beloved Jeep defaced but he quickly recovered, and I heard the beep of Jeep telling em it was unlocked. Silently we both got into the truck, and he pulled out of the garage. I saw his hands tighten against the wheel and his eyes darken as we drove quietly down my street.

"Are you mad at me now that you have seen your car?" I asked shrugging into my seat. Emmett features instantly softened as he turn to look at me.

"Sweetheart, I told you I wasn't mad at you." Emmett stated shaking his head.

"You could have fooled me." I whispered.

"Am I pissed about my Jeep being keyed? Yes. It is no secret that I treat this thing like my child, but it wasn't your fault. I meant it when I told you that. It's okay." He said looking me in the eye as he nodded his head, trying to drive his point home. "It's just seeing not only my car vandalized, but that this is what she did to you. It.." He paused huffing obviously trying to choose the right words. "Frustrates me."

"So your not mad at me?" I asked to clarify.

"I don't think I could be mad at you if you cut off my arm." He said turning back to the road. What the hell does that mean? How could I cut off his arm? He's a vampire! As I sat there pondering exactly what he meant, I felt his hand grab mine from my lap. As soon as our skin touched, all thoughts left my head.

We arrive at Emmett's house in no time, mainly because Emmett drives lie a crazy person. I hopped out the car after Emmett parked in the drive way and followed him inside.

"Bella." I turned to see Esme walking towards. "It is wonderful to see you again." She said engulfing me in a hug.

"You too." I replied. Esme easily filled that maternal void that I had been missing. Since the moment I met her, she had treated me as if I was her own child.

"I went to the store this morning and got turkey." She asked releasing me. "You do like turkey right?" I nodded my head smiling. "Good well I made some turkey sandwiches for you for lunch with extra mayo."

"Thank you."

"No problem dear. Just let me know if there is anything missing in the kitchen, and I will be sure to have it next time."

"Oh that's not necessary." I said shaking my head. "You don't have to go grocery shopping for me."

"Oh nonsense. I have to go grocery shopping every week just to keep up appearances. It is nice to actually have someone to shop for." She replied brushing me off. Normally the Cullens gave the food they bought to the homeless shelter in Port Angeles, but now that I was visiting they made sure to have a fully stocked panty.

"Yay, Bella's here. We can start the movie!" Alice yelled as she descended the stairs with Jasper behind her.

"What?" I asked confused.

"We are going to watch a movie." She said settling into the couch. I looked over my shoulder at Emmett to see if this was the actual plan or an Alice plan. He just shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes, causing me to giggle.

"Don't think I didn't see that Emmett." Alice yelled as we walked towards her.

"So what movie are we watching?" I asked as I sat on the couch and leaned against Emmett.

"Beauty and the Beast." Alice answered. I felt Emmett's groan as Alice popped the DVD in. I know I could have argued and made her put in another movie, but to be honest, I love that movie. Snuggling further into Emmett, I watched as the fairytale began.

As Belle and the Beast were dancing in the ballroom while Mrs. Potts sang, I heard a door slam and the sound of heels stomping against the floor.

"Emmett, what the fuck happened to your truck?" Rosalie yelled as she walked into the family room. I felt my face blanch.

"Rosalie." I heard Esme yell from somewhere in the house scolding Rose for her language.

"Sorry." She responded before turning back to face us. "Well?"

"Lauren keyed it. It's not a big deal." Emmett not taking his eyes off the television.

"God, I hate that bitch." Rose said quietly, but not quiet enough.

"Rose!" Esme yelled again.

"Sorry!" She responded. "Wait how did Lauren key your car, we haven't been at school for days?" I squeezed my eyes closed knowing I was going to get a nice verbal lashing for Rosalie for not taking care of other peoples things.

"Bella drove it while we were gone." Emmett answered in a warning tone. He rubbed his hand back in forth against my arm as he felt my body tense waiting for the yelling to start.

"Oh." She said as if it wasn't a big deal. My eyes shot open in surprise. That was not the reaction I was expecting.

"What are you babysitting children? Put on an adult movie." She said before leaving the room.

"No one says anything when you want to watch The Little Rascals, Rose!" Alice yelled.

"That's because it's good." Rose responded for somewhere in the house. The tension in the room had dissapated, as soon as Rose left and we all went back to watching the beautiful brunette tame the beast.

"So what now?" I asked as the credits rolled on the screen.

"We leave." Carlisle said entering the living room.

"Where are we going?" I asked confused. Emmett said we were staying here.

"I'm sorry Bella. I didn't mean to confuse you." Carlisle said in a compassionate tone. "Just Jasper and Emmett are coming with me." He finished as Edward walked into the room. I had gotten used to Edward the past week. Even though he didn't like me, he was never rude, unlike his wife. And I now understood why he would stare at my for long periods of time. We had found mutual respect.

"Where are you going?" I asked Emmett wondering why he was going to leave me here. As soon as the question left my mouth, Alice and Japer were up following Carlisle and Edward out the room. I guess they were giving us some privacy or they didn't want to be around when I blew up.

"We are going to look for the nomad." Emmett said playing with my hair.

"Why? I don't think that is a very good idea." I replied raising my eyebrows. "Don't go looking for the person just for me. Seriously they haven't even done anything."

"And they won't." Emmett said looking into my eyes. "But this isn't just for you. Everytime there is a nomad in the area, we go out to find them."

"Why would you do that? That sounds dumb."

"To ask them not to hunt in the area because we live here."

"I still don't think this is a good idea. What if you get into a fight."

"You really think anyone is going to want to fight this." He joked puffing out his chest. I wasn't funny.

"I'm serious."

"Bella there is one of them and four of us. It will be fine. Just stay here with Alice and have fun."

"Your making Alice babysit me!" I yelled.

"It's not babysitting when you want to do it." Alice said walking into the room. "Beside Bella we are going to have so much fun."

"I don't doubt that Alice. But how are you okay with this?" I asked her.

"You get use to it. It's normal. They will be fine, I've already seen it." She answered as Emmett stood. For some reason I panicked.

"Wait." I said grabbing his arm. He turn back to face me. "Please don't do anything stupid, that includes fighting." I clarified.

"I've never backed down from a fight, Bella." He shook his head.

"That's what I am worried about." I said looking up at him. He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

"Stop worrying. It's going to be fine, Bella. I'll be back before you know it." He said looking into my eyes, before exiting the room.

"Don't be said Bella we are going to have so much fun." Alice grabbed my hand and began pulling me towards the stairs. "I got a new facial mask and nail polish for us to try. It's going to be a spa day."

Two hours, a facial, manicure, pedicure, and hot oil treatment later, Alice had warn me out.

"Alice I don't want to." I said falling backwards onto her bed.

"Bella get back in here we have to finish your make over!" She yelled from the bathroom.

"Why? I'm not going anywhere."

"That doesn't mean you can't look cute."

"Can't we just take a break?" Alice walked out of the bathroom looking offended.

"Breaks are for wimps Bella." Before I have a chance to respond a knock resounded on the door and Rosalie walked in.

"Can I borrow Bella for a minute?" My eyes widened as I turned my head quickly to look at Alice.

"Sure." She said smiling.

"What?" I asked looking at Alice as if she was crazy. She know Rose hates me. She is probably just going to kill me because Emmett isn't here to stop her.

"Bella go with Rose for a sec. I am going to pick out the right eyeshadow for you." She said before walking back into the bathroom and leaving me with Rose who looked at me, then turned and left the room.

Slowly getting off of Alice's bed, I followed Rose down the hall to where I knew her bedroom was. When I walked in, Rose was already sitting on the foot of the bed patting the spot next to her. Slowly walking towards her, I sat down.

"You don't have to be scared Bella. I won't hurt you." She said looking at me. I nodded my head. "I just wanted to talk."

"What about?" I asked quietly ringing my hand in my lap.

"As you know we have all spent the last week looking for this man who escaped form jail." I pursed my lips together, waiting for her to tell me that it was a waste of her time. "I didn't get all the details of what he did to you, Emmett wouldn't give them. He wouldn't even let Edward see, but I do know is that he murdered your parents.

"Now I know that I have been horrible to you ever since you and my brother started hanging out, but I want you to know that if you ever need someone to talk about it with or a shoulder to cry on, I'm here. I am probably the only person in his house that has an idea of what you went through, and what you are currently going through. I too have had a man to take everything from me." That was not what I expected.

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened to you?" I asked getting a boost of courage.

"When I was 16, I fell in love with a man who was 4 years my senior. He was wealthy, good looking, and came from a affluent family. His name was Royce King. He courted me for two years before he proposed. I can remember running into my house to tell my parents, I was that excited. Unfortunately they were not as happy as I was. My father was convince Royce only wanted me for a trophy wife, and my mother said she heard around town the he had been cheating on me. They thought I could do better. I did not.

"I remember telling Royce what they said, he replied they just don't understand our love. And I believed him. After my parents refused to pay for the wedding, I stopped speaking to them. We were never really close in first place. Our nanny was was the one who raised me. But I couldn't believe that they couldn't just be happy for me. Luckily Royce agree to pay for the wedding, given that it was going to be the social event of the season. So the next few months, I spent with his mother planning the wedding.

"Two weeks before I was to be married, I still hadn't found the perfect wedding dress and I was beginning to panic. It was a cool Tuesday afternoon, as I walking home form a girls lunch-in, that I saw it in the windows of Macy's. My perfect wedding dress. I was so excited to tell Royce that I just hailed a cab and went straight to his office. His receptionist was not where to be found, so I just walked right on in.

"I found her on her knees pleasing my fiance in his office. It still remember his face when he realized that he was caught. Taking off my ring, I just threw it at him, told him we were over, and left running to my best friend Vera's house.

"After a couple of hours of me pouring my heart out to her, her house telephone rang. My parents had been murdered, and the police had no suspects. But I knew who did it. Royce always had an awful temper. I cried harder realizing that they were right, and because I was so blind, I was never going to have a real relationship with them. Royce took that from me, becuase I had embarrassed him. My grief turned to anger. I knew I had to face him. It was dark when I made it to his apartment. He didn't seemed surprised to see me at all. Actually he had a smug smile on his face, thinking he had trapped me into coming back to him. But he was wrong. I told him my parent were right about him. I told him he didn't deserve me, and I told him I was going to tell the police everything. And he just sat there stoically and listened. He never begged me not to leave. He just sat.

"On my walk back to Vera's, I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders, but that didn't last for long. I heard my name being called out behind me. I turned to see Royce running after me. I did even have a chance to ask him what he wanted before he stabbed me in my side with a kitchen knife and threw me on the ground saying, 'If I don't get to have you no one will. You're mine and I am going to make sure you die knowing it.' I was found hours later bleeding to death by Carlisle." She said shaking her head as if she was trying to get rid of the memory.

"I'm so sorry that that happened to you, Rose." I commented trying to ease the pain she was reliving. I understood pain.

"It's okay. I got my revenge, and I know why Royce did it. I was going to ruin his perfect image, and he wasn't going to stand for it. I'm not telling you this so that you will feel sorry for me, I just want you to know that I understand. I understand that pain that sits in your heart that won't go away. I understand your nightmares, because even though I don't sleep, he still haunts me. I understand. And I hope that you can understand that this is why I have been treating you so poorly. I let my guard down with my family once, I won't do it again."

"I would never hurt Emmett." I said shaking my head.

"I am beginning to realize that. I can see that you love him, and I know that he loves you. And I'm not going to get in the way of that anymore." She said standing. "Come Alice is waiting for us." She walked towards the door.

"Rose." I said stopping her. "I completely forgive you for the way that you treated me. I get it, and I glad that Emmett has someone like you in his corner." She smiled at me, and continued walking to Alice's room.

"Good you're both her. Rose you can help me with the next part of Bella's make over." Alice said as we entered her room. The next few hours Rose and Alice took turns showing me the trick of the trade that they have learned over the past few decades for hair and make up. We laugh, and we joked. Telling embarrassing stories about men, and even sharing some sex tip. I choose not to participate in that part even though Alice begged for details. It wasn't until I yawned that I realized how late it was.

"Guess you're tired I will take you to Emmett's room." Alice said leading me towards the third floor. Once I walked in to the familiar room, there was a large king sized bed against he far wall.

"When did this get here?" I asked crawling into it.

"Emmett ordered it."

"Charlie." I moaned sinking into the pillow.

"Esme is already calling him. Go to sleep Bella." She said before she left the room. I closed my eyes, and snuggled a pillow hoping that Emmett would be back soon.

**Hm I wonder what is taking Emmett so long? And What did you think of Rose's backs story. Can you forgive her behavior now? Let me know what you think and I will send you a preview. **


	22. Chapter 22

**Hey guy as I'm really sorry about the wait but, I am just starting a new job and that precedence over this story. We are very close to the end. At most there are three chapter left. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters belong to SM. No copyright infringement intended. **

(Bpov)

"Bella."

"Bella." I heard Emmett's voice coo as I woke from my slumber. Opening my eyes slowly, I saw Emmett grinning down at me.

"What?" I asked in a scratchy voice rubbing my eyes.

"Wake up." I looked over at the window to see the sun beginning to rise.

"What time is it?"

"Six."

"Emmett why would you wake me up at six?" I rolled back into the bed trying to pull the cover over my head, but I couldn't brake Emmett's grip on the sheets.

"Because I just got back, and I have to go back out to meet up with the guys in like two hours."

"You just back!" I said looking at him in shock. "What happened?" I sat up genuinely intrigued. Emmett pushed my hair out of my face as he answered.

"We have been chasing the nomad all over the Pacific Northwest. I guess she really doesn't want to talk to us." I closed my eyes as Emmett's fingers ran through my hair. "I don't know if she saw us as a threat or what. But she is one evasive bitch."

"You don't know if she is a bitch." I said defending her. "I would run away to if four men I didn't know where chasing me."

"Yea well, Edward, Jasper, and Carlisle are still out there looking for her."

"Why did you come back?" I asked looking into his golden eyes.

"Because I promised you I would." He answered cradling my cheek. He leaned in a press his cool lips to mine. "And I always keep my promises."

"So I see." I smiled against his mouth. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pulled myself into his lap. He opened is mouth to me, as I place both of my legs on either side of him. As always, he tasted amazing. I don't know if it was because he was a vampire or because it was just Emmett, but I was addicted to his cinnamon taste. As I pulled back gasping for air, Emmett went to his favorite spot on my neck, nipping at the thin skin.

"So I guess you like the bed." He said into my shoulder.

"I think it was a very good purchase." I replied pulling at his hair so that he would look at me.

"Me too. Especially after that last two days." He said looking up at me as I blushed. "God I love that blush." He added inhaling deeply. "And I love you."

"Oh really?" I asked jokingly looking down at him as he nodded his head. "Well then I guess I love you too."

"Good to know." He grinned. "Did you miss me while I was gone?"

"Yes, and you're never leaving me with Alice again." He laughed. "It's not funny. She spent hours playing barbie." I felt his body shake under me as he laughed harder.

"That sounds like Alice." He shook his head as he laid back on the bed. "What else did you do yesterday?" He asked placing his behind his head. My eyes were immediately drawn to his biceps. Even with is rock hard skin, his muscle definition was prevalent. My eyes traveled from his shoulder to his elbows taking in every curve. I could feel my body heating up with every inch I studied. I shifted in his lap feeling the slight fiction is body gave me between my legs. I was broken out of my trance my the sound of Emmett loudly clearing his throat.

"What?" I asked quickly bringing my eyes to his. I could tell my the cocky look on his face that he knew exactly what I was thinking.

"As I much as I wish we had time for that, we don't." He said smirking. "But I will make it up to you." At the sound of Emmett's promise, I gasped. Dear God let the be true.

"But until then, tell me what else you did yesterday?" He continued with a huge smile loving the fact that he got a rise out of me.

"Umm. Not much Rosalie joined us after awhile." I shrugged.

"Rosalie?" Emmett asked shocked.

"Yea she and I had a little chat." As soon as the words lift my mouth, I was thrown off of Emmett on to the bed beside him. By the time I registered my happened Emmett hand was on my cheek, and a pissed look was written all over his face.

"What did she say?" He asked in a growl. "because I swear to god she will be in a world of hurt if she took advantage of the fact that I wasn't there. You know what forget it she will be in pain no matter what." He said getting up.

"Wait!" I yelled stopping him. He was so quick to jump to conclusions. "It wasn't a bad talk."

"What kind of talk was it then?" He asked suspiciously.

"Come lay back down first." I said eyeing the spot his body once occupied. Reluctantly, Emmett climbed back onto the bed laying down on his side facing me. I smiled at him hoping to alleviate his tension, but his face was stone still.

"It was a good talk." I finally answered. "Rose told me about what happened to her, and explained that if I ever needed someone to talk to she was here."

"That's it?" Emmett asked obviously thinking I was lying.

"Yep." I nodded my head.

"She didn't insult you or make you cry?"

"Nope. We actually found we have a lot in common." I smiled.

"I already told you that." Emmett responded visibly relaxing.

"Just because you said it, doesn't mean I believed you." I joked.

"You should. I'm always right." He grinned placing a hand on my cheek. My eyes closed and I leaned into his touch. "How much longer till you have to leave?" I whispered.

"I told them I would be back at 9. And it will probably take me an hour to run to where they are." He answered quietly.

"So we only have like an hour left?" I opened my eyes and looked into his golden ones. Slowly Emmett nodded his head. We spent the next hour snuggling in his new bed talking about nothing of importance.

"You promise you'll be back tonight?" I asked as Emmett held me. He should have left thirty minute ago, but I was being selfish.

"I promise. I'll be back before you go to bed." He smiled down at me. "Alice is going to take you home later this evening."

"Do you really have to go?" I asked for the sixth time. "I fell like you just got here."

"That's because I did, and yes I do have to go."

"Okay." I said stepping out of his embrace. As soon as his touch left me a feeling of dread set in. A chill ran up my spine, and every instinct told me to make Emmett stay. But I knew once his mind was set on something, nothing was going to change it. And Emmett was dead set on finding this nomad. Not just for his families safety, but mine as well.

"Just promise me nothing bad is going to happen?" I whispered.

"Bella. Everything is going to be fine. I'll be fine." He shook his head slowly bending down to look me straight in the eye.

"Something doesn't feel right about this." He placed both his hand on my cheeks.

"I promise you. Everything is going to be okay, Bella. You're safe here. I told you, I won't let anyone hurt you. Trust me." I nodded my head as much as Emmett grip would let me.

"I love you." He added.

"I love you too." I whispered.

"Good." He said before lighting kissing my lips and pulling away. "Because my phone just rang for the fifth time. Probably Edward being a grouchy bitch." I chuckled at Emmett's description.

"Okay well I guess you should go." I shrugged.

"I'll be back soon." He kissed my forehead, and was gone. I took a deep breath and stared at the spot he once was. Was it sad that I missed him already? Am I that dependent on him, that I couldn't go over 24 hours without seeing him?

"Bella hurry up and get dressed!" Alice yelled busting through the bedroom door causing me to jump.

"Why? Where are we going?" I asked confused.

"We are going to the mall, silly. Today is going to be a girls day."

"I thought yesterday was a girls day?"

"You can never have to many. Now hurry up everyone is waiting for you." She said turning to walk towards the door. Just before she walked out she turned back and looked at me. "Your outfit for the day is hanging in the closet. If you take to long I am coming up here. And by the way don't think I didn't hear what you told Emmett. You should be happy I wanted to play Barbie." She added before leaving. Sometimes, Alice was scary.

I showered and dress quickly in my Alice approved outfit. Surprisingly, It was something I would actually wear. I ran down the stairs to find Esme, Rose, and Alice waiting for me.

"Finally!" Alice yelled throwing her hand up. "Let's go."

We all watched Alice as she stomped out of the front door, and began walking towards Rose's BMW. I looked back to see Esme shaking her head and Rose rolling he eyes.

"Just ignore Alice dear. She gets a little excited when it is time to go shopping." Esme said smiling at me as she walked towards the car.

"That's an understatement." Rose huffed from behind me. I turned around quickly, still unsure as to what our relationship was. Were we friends? Enemies? Was a truce called? I had no idea.

"I am pretty sure I am going to want to kill Alice before this day is over." She said looking at me before following Esme out. Yea that gave no indication. Closing the front door behind me, I walked out the the car just in time to hear Rose yell.

"Alice you are not sitting shot gun!"

"Why not?" Alice said looking hurt and shocked. I don't know why. She had to have seen this coming.

"Because you will bug the shit out of me." Rose answered.

"Rosalie." Esme scolded from the back.

"It's true. I will rip her head off." Rose defended. "Do you see that? Do you see me ripping your head off and throwing it out the window?" Rose asked Alice.

"Well, I hoping you would have a change of heart." Alice shrugged.

"Not likely. Bella sit in the front." Rose said shocking me. I had decided to stand a good 10 feet from the argument, and wait for them to decided themselves. Then I would fill in the left over space, never in a million years did I think that Rose would invite me to sit up front with her.

"I don't want to cause any trouble." I said quietly look at my feet.

"Oh please. You be doing us all a favor." Rose responded walking towards the drivers side. "Alice move. Bella get in." She added before getting in and turning the car on. As I walked towards the car, Alice held the door open for me.

"See. She likes you." She smiled before pushing me inside. Is that was all of this was for? So Alice could prove to me that Rose liked me? I turned to look into the backseat, as Alice got in she smiled at me. I guess so.

We made it to the mall in Port Angeles in no time. If I thought Emmett drove like a maniac, Rose was clinically insane. There were moments I actually thought I was going to die. And I am beginning to think that this entire family is insane, because Alice ran around the mall like a schizophrenic pixie.

"Oh Bella this will look perfect on you." She said for the thousandth time after four hours of shopping. And it was only Alice, Rose and I. Esme bailed to hour ago to hunt, I guess there where to many humans for her at the moment.

"Alice I don't want to shop anymore." I said sitting on the ottoman in the dressing room. "My feet hurt. I'm hungry, and I'm tired."

"Well it's Emmett fault your tired. He never should have woke you up." She replied handing me the dress. "Now put this on." I grabbed the dress from her and went back into my private room.

"Alice this is the last one, you are killing her." Rose said as she sat across the room.

"Her wardrobe is tragic, Rose." Alice explained.

"Alice, I'll love shopping as much as the next person, but it is obvious she doesn't. Stop forcing her." For first time ever, Rose stood up for me. "Beside we need to feed her before Emmett kills us."

"Oh crap. You're right." Alice said as I walk out with the dress on. "It's perfect. We'll get it." She said not even looking at me. "Now go change back."

Following orders, I waked back into the dressing room, and put my jeans back on. As I stepped out, Alice grabbed the dress from my hands, and ran to the checkout counter to go pay.

"Thanks making her stop." I said to Rose.

"No problem." Rose shrugged. "Alice doesn't understand the concept of not wanting to shop." She continued. "Lets go get you some food."

After meeting Alice at the front of the store, we went to a local restaurant. Going with both Rose and Alice, was an adventure. Between the attention that they get from men to the arguments they have over what food they are going to order. There was never a dull moment.

But by the time they were driving me back to Forks, I was exhausted. I could barely keep my eyes open as we pulled into the drive way.

"Alright, Bella. Emmett should be back in about thirty minutes." Alice said as I went to grab my bags. "Don't worry about what you can't carry. I will make Emmett bring them when he picks you up tomorrow morning for school." Alice added as she watched me struggle with the twenty bags I couldn't carry.

"Okay, well thanks for the trip." I said.

"Your welcome." Alice said as I closed the door and walked towards the house. Before I even made it into the front door, Rosalie had driven out of the driveway, and I don't blame her. Neither of them had seen there husbands in two days. At least I got to see Emmett this morning.

"Charlie." I called as I walked inside, but there was no answer. And surprisingly, Kaiser was not there to great me at the door. That alone should have set off warn bells. I went into the living to see if Charlie fell asleep watching TV again, but it was empty. All I found was a note that said gone fishing. Guess I was alone. Shrugging it off, I climbed the stairs to my room.

Placing the bags on my bed, I began to pull out the clothes so that I could separate them into what need to be hung up and what could be folded into a drawer. It was no surprise that the majority of the clothes I bought needed to be hung up. Alice did nothing half way.

"So we finally meet?" I heard an unfamiliar female voice say causing me to jump and turn around. A woman with bright long red hair, pale skin, and red eyes was standing in the far corner of my room. I felt chills run down my spine as a smirk graced her face.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to meet girl who has seemed to capture everyones hearts." She took a small step forward. I immediately tried to step back, but was blocked by my bed, and she was standing between me and the door. I was trapped.

"Your heart's beating a mile a minute. You'd think you would be use to vampires by now." She clucked her tongue. "Although, I guess it is good you recognize danger."

"What do you want?" I asked quietly finding my voice. It didn't sound as firm as I wanted it too. Hell it was shaking as much as my hands were, but at least I said something.

"You seem like a very smart girl. I'm sure you can figure it out." She stepped closer so that our bodies were only a foot apart. "Although he was right. You do have amazing eyes." The first thought that jumped into my mind was Emmett. What did she do to Emmett?

"What did you do to him?" I asked with more conviction in my voice.

"Oh please honey. Don't act like you care, you're to young to know what love is."

"What did you do to him?" I repeated.

"Lets just say, he is in a better place now. Or at least he will be." She shrugged. "But that's neither here nor there. I came her for a purpose."

"What's that?" I whispered, although I am sure I knew the answer.

"You." She said before everything went black.

**So was that for an ending. Huh? Did it make up for the wait? I am going to try to write as much a possible this weekend, but I promise to update by the end of next week no matter what. I know this chapter was short, but I didn't want to drag out the whole shopping sequence. So leave a review, and let I will send you a preview. **


	23. Chapter 23

**Wow guys. Thanks for all the reviews. I never thought I would write a story that would make it to over 300. That is truly amazing. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters belong to SM. No Copyright infringement intended. **

(Bpov)

It was dark. Everything was dark when I woke up. My shoulders were aching as my arms were chained above my head wrist over wrist. I was standing on my toes trying to alleviate some of the pressure on my arms, but I could barely touch the ground. Breathing was becoming difficult. I felt as if someone was sitting on my chest, and the weight was increasing with every breath I took. My head ached and my wrists burned. My hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail that was pulling at my scalp.

As I took a deep breath, I coughed. Dirt and dust was everywhere. When my coughing died down, I looked around trying to get a bearing on my surroundings. Any idea or concept as to where I was and how to get out of here. It was then I heard it. Moaning.

It was low and quiet, definitely a male. And he sounded as if he was in pain. Severe pain. Then I remember what she said. She had Emmett. Oh God.

"Em.." I whispered as tears came to my eyes. I didn't know how close she was or if she was even listening, but I knew I had to be quiet. If there was any hope of me getting out of here, I had to be quiet. But I wasn't going to let Emmett suffer.

"Emmett." I whispered again. The groaning got louder, as he heard me. I guess that was a good sign he hear. It was when he yelled that I realized he only got louder because the pain got worse. I immediately stepped forward trying to get him, but I couldn't help but cry out as the raw skin on my wrist hit the shackles.

"Well look whose awake." I heard from the far end of the room. I didn't have to question who that was. "I thought you would never wake up." She added.

"Please, let him go." I pleaded to the air. It was too dark to see her, but I knew she was near.

"I don't think you want me to do that, Bella." She whispered against my ear causing me to jump.

"I don't know what you want from me, but please just let him go." I begged trying to reason with her.

"Why would you want me to let him go? He the last person I think you want to be set free in this world." Now I was confused. What did she mean by that? Who is she talking about? "Why don't we open your eyes a little bit." She added before flipping a switch.

I had to close my eyes from the brightness of the light. But as I opened them, I looked at the body thirty feet in front of me, and gasped. He was to small to be Emmett, and his blond hair was a dead give away. This can't be happening.

(Empov)

The whole weekend was useless. The woman had a talent of evasion. We had been all over Canadian and northern west coast. But our efforts were futile. She always managed to lure us in, and and escape at the last minute. How? I have no idea. We had a mind reader and an empath on our side, but she out smarted us. Emmett McCarty out smarted by a woman. This is a day I want to forget.

When we were within miles of our house, I felt excitement build within me. I'm sure some of it was from Jasper, but the fact that I get to see Bella soon only added to feelings forced upon me. As the scent of our land assaulted my nostrils, I began to plan the best course of action to get me to Bella sooner. A shower was definitely in order. All four of us look like we rolled in dirt. And a hunt wasn't a bad idea either. Bella's blood didn't appeal to me, but I won't take a chance with her safety.

As we enter the house, Esme was the only one there to great us. Relief was written all over her face as her eyes scanned over each of her children and her husband looking for injuries only to find none. I'll never understand why Esme worries for our safety when we do things like this.

"Where is everyone else?" Jasper asked expectantly looking for his wife.

"They just dropped Bella off at home from the mall." She answered walking over to Carlisle and kissing his cheek.

Fucking gross.

They may not be my birth parents, but seeing them kiss still makes me uncomfortable. Wanting to leave before things get hot and heavy and I wanted gouge my eyes out, I ran upstairs to my bedroom to shower. As I walked in, Bella's scent hit me. Bella is going to have to sleep her more often. Her delicious scent was everywhere, and we are without a doubt christening that bed the first chance we get. I could feel myself getting hard at the though of my room smelling like Bella and her sweet arousal.

Shaking my head, trying to break that train of thought, I walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Unfortunately that didn't help. As soon as the warm water hit my freezing skin, I was reminded about that it felt like to be surrounded my Bella's warmth. I never thought that anything could feel as good as being inside Bella, but she always found ways to surprise me.

On it's own accord, my hand found it's way to my cock softly stroking it as thoughts of sex with Bella flooded my mind. Her moans. The blush that ran down her whole body as she came. Even the scent of her hair was bringing me closer to release. Taking a deep breath, I unlocked my grip on myself, and washed my body avoiding that sensitive area all together deciding to save it for Bella later. The real thing is so much fucking better than my fantasies.

As I dried myself off, I thought about anything and everything to get myself relaxed enough so I could put on jeans. Carlisle and Esme having sex did it. I carefully slipped on my pants and threw on a shirt, before running downstairs deciding to hunt an the way to Forks. As I made it to the first floor, I saw Edward, Jasper, Carlisle, and Esme sitting down waiting.

"They still haven't come back?" I asked.

"No, they should have been back by now." Carlisle said stating they obvious. The drive from here to Forks is only ten minutes, and with Rose driving it's three. Looking at my watch, I saw we had been home for 15 minutes. Something was wrong, and everyone knew it.

"Maybe they stopped at another store." I said trying to ease their discomfort. But I know it was useless. Nothing would be able to calm me down if Bella was missing. As Edward took a deep unnecessary breath, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Pulling it out, Alice's face shown on the screen.

"Why is your wife calling me?" I asked Jasper who was immediately at my side. Hitting the talk button, I put the phone to my ear knowing everyone else could hear anyway.

"What's up?" I asked hesitantly. Alice should not be calling me right now.

"Emmett you have to get over her." She said sounding frazzled. Jasper tensed at the sound, and Carlisle, Esme, and Edwards were on their feet. "Bring everyone."

"Alice, wait where are you?"

"Forks. Bella's house." I instantly hung up the phone, and sprinted west towards Forks. I could hear everyone else right behind me as I led the way. The first thing I noticed when we arrived at Bella's house was that her bedroom window was shattered. And as I listen for her heartbeat, I heard nothing. Taking a deep breath trying to calm my anger, a familiar scent hit me.

"What the fuck happened?" I growled at both Alice and Rose who looked guilty. I inhaled one more time to make sure I was right. The nomad was here. That fucking bitch is dead.

"When we dropped her off everything was fine." Alice said shaking her head. "After I saw you coming home, I stopped looking into her future. I didn't think anything was going to happen in that time." I had to ball my fist to keep myself for ripping Alice's head off her god damn neck. Jasper feeling the anger I had towards his wife, put himself between the two of us. That was probably a good idea. Anyone was fair game to feel my wrath right now.

"Did you follow the trail?" Carlisle asked trying to sound diplomatic.

"Yea, it disappeared after a mile. She a car." Rose said looking at me. I could even bring myself to look back at her. For all I know she did this on purpose. She was never silent about the fact that she hated Bella and wanted her out of our lives. This could have been her chance.

"Stop it." Edward growled reading my mind. "How could you think that?"

"How could I not?" I yelled walking towards him. "Rose has made her point of view crystal fucking clear from the beginning."

"Things changed." He defended his wife.

"I don't give a shit." I said stepping to Edward. I'm the last person you want to piss off right now, I thought.

"Emmett I promise you I didn't know." Rose said quietly drawing my attention to her.

"Oh please. You couldn't have had that big of a change of heart. You're still a selfish bitch."

"Alright." Carlisle yelled. "This is getting us no where. We need to find Bella."

"What do you suggest?" Jasper asked rubbing Alice's shoulder.

"We follow the trail." I said running in the direction that that bitch had taken Bella. As I ran, I took in all my surrounding looking for any hint as to where she may be. In some ares Bella's scent was stronger than other, and when I looked down I noticed why. Mixed in with the leaves where drops of blood. I felt my anger rise, as I realized that Bella had been bleeding. That red headed slut will not be alive much longer. As we made it to a road, the trail stopped. Fuck they really got in a car.

"Did anyone get anything?" Carlisle asked and only silence answered. We had nothing. Bella has been missing for the last thirty minutes and we had nothing. I looked around at my families faces to see hopelessness in each one. We don't even know where to start.

Instantly, Alice went ridged and her eyes glazed over. We all watched her silently, hoping that her vision would give us a clue. Anything. As she came to Edward smiled.

"She slipped up. I think I know where Bella is."

(Bpov)

"It always more painful towards the end." The red headed vampire whose name I had learned was Victoria said while circling James' body as he screamed blood murder. "The venom is reaching the heart."

You would think that be enjoying this. Watching the man that killed my parents suffer, but in actuality there was nothing enjoyable about this. No matter a person has done to you, you can't sit there and watch them physically suffer. It begins to hurt you. I begged her several time to put him out of his misery, she laughed every time.

"What do you want with me?" I finally asked the one question that has been on the tip of my tongue for the last few hours as Victoria tortured me.

"You still don't get it. You're not very bright." She said shaking her head. "You're my gift for him."

"What?" I asked confused.

"When he wakes up, he is going to be very thirsty and who better for his first meal than the woman who ruin his life." Chills ran up my spine and tears down my face as she spoke.

"I didn't do anything to him." I shook my head.

"Like mother like daughter. You always think you are innocent."

"What are you talking about?" Instantly she was in front of me yelling.

"You think I don't know. He told me everything after I broke him out of jail." She spat venom in my face as she spoke, and my bottom lip began to tremble trying to keep myself from hysterically crying. "He loved your mother enough to leave his home town, everyone he knows, to follow her dreams. Enough to work three jobs while she pursued an acting career. And then she leaves him for first man she meet who has money: PHIL! She packed her bags overnight and left him. After all he did for her!" More tears fell down my face as she tarnished my mother's image. She couldn't have done that. That can't be the whole story.

"She tried to say she left because he was crazy. She made him crazy." She continued backing away from me talking to her self. "She put to much pressure on him. She expected him to give her everything and not want anything in return. And like the good man he is, he tried. He really tried." She began pacing the room, until she finally stopped in front of me.

"She deserved every betting she got from him. She didn't appreciate the man she had. She drove him to the point of insanity." And there is was. The missing link in the entire story. James and my mother left Forks to get a life together, to follow my mother's dreams. But somewhere along the way, he began beating her, and when she had an out with my father, she took it.

"You didn't explain what that has to do with me?" I clarified hoping she would see the error in her logic. I don't know why I thought that. There was nothing logical or rational about her.

"When he saw you in Phoenix, he saw that 17 year old girl he fell in love with. You were his chance to get the life he always wanted. The chance to get the life he thinks he mess up. But you couldn't even give him that." Oh my god, there are both crazy.

"But it's ok. He has me now, and I'm going to make sure he gets everything he wants, including you." As she spoke, James yells got louder and his chest lifted off the ground.

"Any minute now." Victoria smiled at me. I had to get out of here, now. I began to struggle against my chains, but my legs were so weak from holding myself up they didn't have the strength to help. The room fell silent as James' screaming stopped. My heart increased to a rapid pace knowing that any minute now, he was going to be awake. Any minute now, I was going to be dead.

Instantly James was on his feet crouching, and growling. The sound emitting from his chest, were the thing of my nightmares.

"James, honey." Victoria cooed in a sickeningly sweet voice. "It's okay. You're safe remember." James tilted his head to the side, and instantly turned his head towards me. I froze. There was nothing I could do.

"See I got her for you, just like I promised." Victoria said, but James didn't listen. He rose to his feet, and slowly stalked towards me. My breathing hitched and my hands trembled. He was playing with me. He was a vampire, incredibly fast and strong. Yet it seemed like he was walking towards me in slow motion.

"You look even better with my new eyes." He said staring at me. His voice was deeper, smoother. He nose had straightened out. His red eyes boring into mine. Yes he looked more attractive, but also more menacing. As if that was necessary.

He reached he hand up and ran it over my cheek down to my collarbone inhaling deeply.

"You smell amazing." He said closing his eyes stepping forward. When he open them, I could see the hunger beneath his read orbs.

"Don't cry." He smiled wiping the tears off my cheeks. "It will only hurt for a little bit." His hand moved from my neck up to my chin pushing it up exposing my neck to him. By this point, I was crying audibly. I was too terrified to stay quiet. There was no point. I was already caught, chained like cattle. I wasn't going anywhere.

I felt his cool breath fan over the warm skin on my neck. I closed my eyes not wanting to see my own death. I flinched when I felt his nose breeze over the skin. It was nothing like when it Emmett did it. Emmett was soft and sweet. James was forceful.

"You have no idea how long I have dreamed of doing this." He whispered as he hands harshly ran up my sides to my arms.

"YOU CHAINED HER UP!" He yelled causing my whole body to tremble.

"I thought it would be more fun that way." Victoria answered.

"You thought wrong." James said into my neck as he grabbed the chain and crumbled it into his hands. I felt the dust fall into my hair as my arms fell and I slumped against the wall. But James didn't left me get far. He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me flush against his body. Continuing his ministrations, he ran his nose back and forth against my neck.

With each second that passed, his grip on my waist was getting tighter and tighter.

"Will you just kill her already?" Victoria yelled. James' movement immediately stopped and he pulled his head back.

"Give me one minute." He said to me stepping back. As soon as he released his grip, my body fell to the floor. My muscles were so worn out, I couldn't even stand. I looked up to see James walking towards Victoria.

"I think you've had enough play time." Victoria put her hand on her hips as she spoke.

"I think you're right." James said before grabbing her neck and ripping her head off her body. My eyes widened as I watched Victoria's red hair hit the floor, and her body collapse.

"I didn't plan on doing that so soon. I hoped she could teach me a few things before I killed her." James said turning back towards me. "But now we are finally alone."

"Are you going to kill me?" I asked looking at his feet as he stood infront of me.

"Why would I do that? I love you." I froze as the words passed his lips. From my place on the floor, I looked up at him. Please don't let that be true.

"Then let me go." I whispered.

"Now that I can't do." I hissed as he grabbed my sore arms and pulled me up to stand. "We belong together, and I am going to make sure that nothing gets inbetween that."

"Please let me go." I begged again.

"Don't be afraid. As soon as I have the control, I am going to turn you myself. Then we will be together forever. But for now, we have to leave. Because I am very thirsty."

"Please leave me here."

"I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just not letting you out of my sight. Just in case that asshole vampire you managed to get yourself involved with shows up. I'll have to deal with him soon." More tears fell from my eyes, as he spoke of hurting Emmett.

"It must admit. It hurt me to see you move on so quickly from me, but I understand. You thought I wasn't going to come back, but, as you will learn, I always find a way. Now we just have to get rid of the boyfriend."

"Please don't hurt him. I'll go with you if you just don't hurt him."

"You'll go with me either way." He shrugged, but then I felt his grip on my arms tighten. "Wait. Do you love him?" He growled. I didn't know how to answer this. Do I lie and not feel his wrath? But it seems my silence was answer enough, as I felt his hands squeeze my arms.

"Did you sleep with him?" My whole body began to tremble. I could form words. He already knew the answer.

"DAMN IT!" He yelled and I was instantly airborne as he pushed my away from him. The concrete of the of the floor breaking my fall as I fell on my back. If I thought breathing was difficult before, it was impossible now. The wind had been knocked out of me.

"How could you?" He yelled as I wheezed for air. Panic set in. I am going to suffocate to death. I closed my eyes trying to control my breathing. Knowing that if I just calmed down, the air would hit my lungs. But with James' yelling, it was impossible to find any state of calm. I began to get light headed, and as I opened my eyes spots appeared in my vision. I'm going to pass out.

A loud crash and growl sounded from the far end of the room, but was still trying to focus on breathing. I didn't want to see James terrorizing the building. Just as I felt myself beginning to calm down, a hand grabbed my arm and I flinched falling back into a state of panic.

"You have to calm down Bella." I heard. I open my eyes to see Carlisle and Alice kneeing next to me.

"I can't." I gasped.

"Yes you can. You have calm down." Carlisle raised my hand and placed it on his chest. "Concentrate on my breathing. Breath with me." I looked over at Alice who nodded her head.

"Bella you can do this." She said. I closed my eyes and focused on trying to breath with Carlisle. After a couple of ill-fated attempts, air finally hit my lungs.

"There you go. Keep breathing." Carlisle said.

"Where..Where..Where is he?" I asked in between deep breaths.

"Edward, Emmett, and Jasper took him out." Alice said pushing the hair out of my face. "You're safe now."

"Victoria."

"Rosalie and Esme are taking care of the body. You don't have to worry about her anymore." I nodded my head.

"Okay." I was last thing I remember saying.

When I woke up, I was laying in a soft warm bed. Taking a deep breath, I knew I was in Emmett's room. I could smell him everywhere. I felt calmness surround me as I realized I was safe. Safe from James. Safe from Victoria. And safe from my past. As I went roll over onto my side to find Emmett, the stiffness in my back caused me to hiss.

"Careful." I heard Emmett's voice say as he rolled me back onto my back. "You bruised your back pretty badly." I looked over to see Emmett somber face as he sat in a chair beside the bed. He looked worn down and tired. His golden eyes stared back at me with nothing but guilt and remorse, and I wasn't going to have that. He was the reason I am alive right now. "Bella, I.."

"Stop." I whispered. "You did nothing wrong. You have no reason to apologize."

"Bella." He sighed. "This never should have happened."

"But it wasn't your fault. I would have been in this mess wether you were with me or not. I only got out of it because you are in my life." He shook his head.

"I should have been there. I shouldn't have left you alone."

"You can't follow me everywhere, Emmett."

"I promised I would protect you." He whispered to himself.

"And you did. He would have killed me."

"He never should have gotten his hands on you, and that is my fault."

"Fine. You can believe otherwise, but I don't want to hear it." I said giving up. "I really just want to pretend the last 24 hours never happened." Emmett huffed and nodded his head. I think he wanted to apologize and wallow in his self guilt until the end to time, but I didn't. For some reason, I felt at peace over what had just happened. I left Arizona hoping to close an awful chapter of my life. Only to come here to Fork and have it haunt me further.

But now, I can finally move on. My mother's past was not longer a mystery. James could no longer haunt my dreams or my life. And somehow through the mess of it all, I had found the most amazing man.

"Please lay down with me?" I asked scooting over on the bed. Emmett slowly stood and laid down next to me. I turned into his side, and he wrapped his cool arm around me, as I rested my head on his chest.

"I love you." I said wanting him to know that that had not changed.

"I love you too." He whispered before he kissed my hair.

**So what do you think? Did it live up to the hype? Let me know. Next Lauren gets what's coming to her and the end. **


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